An Indiana mother who admitted to drowning her two young children in a bathtub so she could “send them to heaven” has formally entered a guilty plea that could keep her behind bars for life.
Brittany Medina, 35, pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Wednesday to two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death for the 2023 slayings of her children, 3-year-old Jackson and 1-year-old Madelyn Shelton, according to court documents.
Lawrence County Superior Court Judge John M. Plummer III presided over the hearing and noted he would take the plea deal “under advisement pending sentencing.” A pre-sentence investigation report is expected next month. If the agreement is accepted, two counts of murder against Medina will be dismissed.
Medina is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. on October 23.
As previously reported by L&C, Medina walked into the Lawrence County Jail on September 26, 2023, and told officers she had killed her children. After being read her Miranda rights, she handed over a key to her residence and “stated she killed her two children ages one and three and drowned them in the bathroom.”
When officers arrived at her West Brook Street home, they found both children lifeless in the bathtub.
According to court records, Medina admitted she had taken Xanax, suboxone, and cocaine the night before the killings. The next day, after preparing breakfast and putting on cartoons for her children, she began experiencing disturbing hallucinations.
Around 2:30 p.m., Medina claimed she heard voices instructing her that she “needed to send her children to heaven today” or they would all be taken and “placed in a dark hole.”
“Medina advised the voices indicate the people would torture all three until the end of their lives if she didn’t send the children to heaven today,” the affidavit said.
Medina allegedly told investigators she kissed her children, told them she loved them, and then held them underwater by their necks until they stopped moving.
“I ended up drowning them,” Medina allegedly confessed to police.
She confirmed that she understood her actions would result in their deaths and reiterated she did it to “send them to heaven.”
Afterward, Medina reportedly changed into dry clothes, checked that the children were “not moving,” and then drove to the sheriff’s office to turn herself in. Authorities later found Jackson unclothed and Madelyn dressed in a “flowered onesie” in the bathtub.
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