Mum killed six of her own babies and hid them until husband’s horror discovery

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Megan Huntsman from Pleasant Grove, Utah, was convicted after her ex-husband discovered six dead babies in cardboard boxes in their former home’s garage

Darren West went back to his old house in Pleasant Grove, Utah, in April 2014 to collect some of his possessions.

Megan Huntsman’s former husband had just been freed from an eight-year jail term for drug crimes.

What he discovered in the garage was so shocking it was beyond comprehension – six cardboard boxes holding the remains of newborn infants.

Officials said that a seventh baby seemed to have been stillborn. Huntsman was subsequently identified as the person behind each of these appalling killings.

From 1996 to 2006, she had smothered or throttled six of her own newborns straight after delivery.

Legal papers show Huntsman had been a chronic methamphetamine addict and “didn’t want the babies.”, reports the Mirror.

Authorities confirmed West was the father of the infants – five girls and two boys – and they also had three living children together.

He wasn’t regarded as a suspect but officials didn’t explain how he could have remained unaware of the numerous pregnancies or deaths throughout the years.

The infants had been wrapped in plastic bags and kept in boxes in the garage, abandoned when Huntsman moved away.

The murderer, who was 40 when sentenced, confessed to the killings and entered guilty pleas in February 2015 to six counts of murder.

At the trial in Provo, a judge imposed the maximum penalty – a minimum of 30 years, with the chance of life imprisonment. Prosecuting attorney Jeff R. Buhman branded the killings as “cold, calculated murders” and claimed Huntsman showed complete indifference to her actions: “She was a woman who was remarkably, unbelievably, incredibly indifferent and callous.”

He revealed she delivered at home on two occasions whilst others were present in the house.

“She made sure the bathroom, or the bedroom, was cleaned before anyone got home and the baby was wrapped up quickly and thoroughly and stored in the garage before anyone would know,” Buhman stated.

Huntsman barely spoke during proceedings, only uttering the word “guilty” six times.

Officers said she battled drug addiction and provided no genuine explanation for concealing the bodies in her garage.

She informed the judge in her statement that after breaking free from her methamphetamine dependency, she “moved on to alcohol.

Depression and alcohol took hold of me the same way drugs did.

“I cannot give a reasonable answer why I was capable of such a sick and heinous crime. I held my secret for 18 years.”

Pleasant Grove Police Captain Mike Roberts said at the time: “It was completely selfish. She was high on drugs and didn’t want the babies, or the responsibility. That was her priority at the time.”

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole scheduled Huntsman’s initial parole hearing for April 2064, meaning she’ll be 89 when she receives her first chance to request release from prison, should that day ever arrive.

“Our hope is that she will probably spend the rest of her life in prison,” stated prosecuting attorney Jeff R. Buhman.