Centennial – A woman who stabbed her young granddaughter 62 times with a butcher knife after receiving “spiritual messages” from geese flying overhead will avoid a jury trial and be sentenced to the state mental hospital.
Carol Lynn Pappas, 53, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 21-month-old granddaughter, Madison Pappas, in October 2005. She had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
On Thursday, Karen Pearson, an assistant district attorney for Arapahoe County District Court, said that after a prosecution expert examined Pappas and her history, “the people are conceding insanity.”
The announcement came two months after the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo also found Pappas to be insane.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23, at which time a judge will hear more evidence and make his ruling on Pappas’ mental condition. Pappas probably will be sentenced to an undetermined amount of time at the mental hospital, attorneys said.
“We all agree that Ms. Pappas is not guilty by reason of insanity,” defense attorney James O’Connor said, adding that the February hearing is merely a “formality.”
Pappas has a history of mental illness and has been diagnosed as manic-depressive and bipolar.
She is charged with killing Madison on Oct. 29, 2005, at her son’s house in Aurora. Pappas had told her son she was receiving the spiritual messages about eight months before she stabbed the girl.
According to police, Pappas said she killed her granddaughter minutes after the girl’s father left for work that morning. When police and firefighters arrived in response to her 911 call, Pappas unlocked the door with blood on both hands.
A police officer said the girl was found facedown on a bed with holes in her shirt. Next to her was a butcher knife about 8 inches long.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
