Cops in Tennessee described in court this week how a mother killed her 1-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter by smothering them with a “Lilo & Stitch” blanket.
Jessica Chandler, 29, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the deaths of her two children, Vista and Eli Chandler.
The Johnson City Police Department responded to the home on October 29 after the children’s father discovered them unresponsive.
Officer Gary Price testified on Tuesday that he responded to the 911 call and discovered the father performing CPR on one of the children in the front yard, according to a courtroom report from local CBS affiliate WJHL.
Medical personnel arrived to help Vista and Eli while he entered the house. Inside, he stated that he found Chandler in the bathtub with cuts on her arms.
“A pack of razor blades with utility knives, I saw them sitting on the edge of the bathtub,” Price said during the trial.
Chandler was transported to the hospital by paramedics, but the children could not be saved. Detectives began looking into how the two young children died.
They were able to quickly gather important clues. Investigator Michael Fowler testified that he found three notes taped to cabinets near the entrance.
He claimed Chandler wrote them an admission to the murders and stated that she intended to commit suicide. Fowler testified that she was motivated in part by the belief that she couldn’t protect them.
Cops initially suspected Chandler of poisoning the children due to the lack of trauma they experienced.
But a subsequent interview with Chandler revealed yet another important piece of the puzzle.
“She pointed out on the property list that she used a ‘Lilo & Stitch’ blanket to first suffocate Vista in her bed,” Fowler testified, adding Chandler admitted to smothering Eli in the same manner. Apparently using a blanket with Disney animated movie characters on it.
An autopsy determined that the children died from asphyxiation by smothering.
According to WJHL, the judge determined that there was sufficient evidence to present the case to a grand jury.
She remains in the Washington County Jail on a $2 million bond. She is next due in court on March 31.
Eli had recently celebrated his first birthday, just over a week before his death. Vista and Eli’s obituary painted a picture of their brief but memorable lives:
Both children were perfect in every way. Vista loved riding her e-bike, swinging, playing in her sandbox, building forts, and playing with playdough. Eli just started walking and was into everything. He loved eating real food, playing with trucks, flopping around on the bed with his sister, and being outside in the yard. They were inseparable. Vista was the best big sister and had the biggest heart and she picked flowers for everybody. Eli was the happiest baby and was always smiling and laughing.
