Bonnerdale woman who locked up kids gets 5 years
HOT SPRINGS — A Bonnerdale woman who kept two juveniles left in her care locked in their rooms last year, prompting one to escape through a window to seek food from a neighbor, was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty.
Lucy Yvonne Killian, 48, who lists a Whispering Winds Lane address, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree false imprisonment and two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and was sentenced to five years in prison on three of the counts, to run concurrently, and 10 years in prison, suspended, to run consecutively after the prison sentence.
“So she got 15 years total and she was out on bond so when she pled (Tuesday) she was taken into custody and will do the first five of the 15 years in (prison), then have 10 years of supervision when she gets out,” deputy prosecutor Caitlin Bornhoft told The Sentinel-Record Thursday.
“If she violates any of her supervision conditions she will be subject to up to 10 years in prison,” she said.
Killian, who lists no prior criminal history, was also ordered to pay $490 in court costs and will have a no-warrant search waiver on file after her release from prison.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on April 8, 2023, shortly after 9:30 p.m., Garland County sheriff’s Deputies Jimmy Caldwell and Charles DeLaHunt responded to a residence on East Highview Trail in Bonnerdale regarding a prowler.
They spoke to the homeowner, who stated he heard a male voice outside saying, “Let me in. I am hungry.” While deputies were checking around the residence, they got a call from another residence on East Highview about a male juvenile at that location.
They responded to that residence and talked to a man who had been washing his truck when a juvenile came walking up to him stating he was hungry.
Deputies made contact with the juvenile, 12, whom DeLaHunt recognized from previous calls.
The deputies took the juvenile to his residence on Whispering Wind Lane, which was about half a mile away, and while en route the juvenile stated his caregiver was not home and his sister, 11, was “still locked inside her room” at the residence.
The deputies noted there was a padlock on the front door of the residence secured from the outside and the juvenile pointed out a window to the left of the door that he said was his sister’s room. Caldwell knocked on the window and a juvenile female “peeked out the curtain.”
Both the children had a strong odor of urine about them and they both said they had not eaten anything since the previous day.
At that point, Killian showed up and stated she was the aunt and caregiver for the children.
The Department of Human Services was contacted, responded to the scene and took custody of both children.
Killian had been granted guardianship of the children after the death of her mother who had been the guardian, she said.