Missoula, Montana: 34-year-old Leannah J. Gardipe was ordered to be held in the Missoula County Jail in lieu of $10 million bail yesterday when she appeared in Missoula County Justice Court where she was charged with two counts of deliberate homicide.
Missoula County Justice of the Peace Alex Beal called her a great risk to the community and ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Gardipe is accused of killing her two children, a 3-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son on Friday morning.
Gardipe's mother called 911 to report that she had been on the phone with her daughter who had told her that she "saved her babies." The woman relayed to the dispatcher that she'd asked if she meant that she had killed them at which point her daughter began to cry.
Gardipe also called 911 "to report a murder" and said that her mother would be calling as well. "I just told her."
She told the dispatcher that the murder had happened earlier that morning with a knife in her bedroom and that "[she] was supposed to die today."
Officers responded to the residence on Patty Lane just after 8:00 am.
They made contact with Gardipe at the front of the home and instructed her to exit, but she stepped back inside and locked the door. She was still on the phone with the dispatcher at the time who told her the officers were there to help her. "No they are not," she responded, "not for what I did."
Officers were able to gain entry through the back of the house and detain Gardipe without incident.
Inside the home, the children were found with "significant lacerations" on their throats and what appeared to be defensive wounds on their hands and fingers. They were pronounced deceased after a medical evaluation.
When the search warrant was executed, officers located a serrated steak knife under a bed, and a note inside the bedroom where the children were found.
"[I[t was the only way that we all wouldn't burn," the note read. "Now I'm the only one of us that will."
Her next court date is scheduled for December 6, 2021.