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BRITTANY PILKINGTON |
Hours after her third son was found dead Aug. 18, 2015, Brittany Pilkington was alone in an interrogation room with Bellefontaine Police Detective Dwight Salyer.
It started out with him recounting past encounters with Ms. Pilkington dating back to the 2010 investigation when she was 17 and pregnant with her oldest son, Gavin, and continued to the 13-month period in which sons Niall, Gavin and Noah were found dead in their beds in the family’s 868 E. Sandusky Ave. apartment.
“I’m thinking, ‘There’s got to be something there,’” the veteran detective said almost 45 minutes into a recorded interview, “and you’re the only one who’s been there each time.”
Still, it took nearly another hour before the woman, now 24, began haltingly to provide a version of what happened to her sons.
The recorded interview was played Tuesday before Logan County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark S. O’Connor at the start of four days of hearings to suppress evidence, separate three aggravated murder charges and throw out a possible death penalty for the mother.
Her attorneys believed her statements were made involuntarily and without providing her legal representation. They claim she did not realize what she was doing despite years of interaction with police when she twice signed waivers against self-incrimination.
They are asking Judge O’Connor to throw out her confessions which were taken over three separate interview sessions: two at the police department and another at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.
Ms. Pilkington faces three counts of aggravated murder with each carrying the possibility of a death sentence. Prosecutors intend to try all three charges at the same time.
She is accused of smothering her sons while they slept, starting with Niall, three months old, on July 22, 2014, and continuing with Gavin, 4, on April 6, 2015, and ending with Noah, three months old.
Logan County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Eric Stewart said he intends to show through recorded interviews the defendant was twice read her Miranda rights against self-incrimination and she had sufficient experience with law enforcement to understand what was happening.
The hearings continue today.
Any decisions from Judge O’Connor most likely will come within weeks of the hearing’s conclusions.
Ms. Pilkington, who has remained in custody since Aug. 18, 2015, is set to stand trial Feb. 27. It is scheduled for four weeks.