Day Two of Testimony in Kehoe Trial

By Dave Franzman, Reporter

Tools

By Nicole Agee

Story Created: Oct 30, 2009 at 8:18 AM CST

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 PM CST

GRUNDY CENTER - Testimony continued on Friday in the murder and attempted murder trial of a Coralville woman.

Michelle Kehoe is accused of killing her two-year-old son, Seth, and trying to kill her then seven-year-old son, Sean.

The knife attacks on the boys happened a year ago in a remote part of Buchanan County.

Evidence included a note written by Michelle Kehoe blaming the attack on a mysterious man. Prosecutors say Kehoe admitted the note was a hoax.

In testimony on Friday, jurors in Grundy Center heard Michelle Kehoe's surviving son, Sean, describe the attack on a recorded police interview. He said his mother did it.

Then state agents described an interview with Michelle Kehoe as she was getting treatment for what is now believed to be a self-inflicted knife wound. The agents told jurors Kehoe couldn't talk because she had a breathing tube down her throat. But she wrote notes in response to questions.

At first Kehoe wrote that she discovered a man hiding in the back of her van and wrote that she tried to overcome him with pepper spray, but he knocked the pepper spray away and began attacking the boys with a knife. However when agents told Michelle that story didn't line up with the facts and what Sean Kehoe was saying, she broke down and admitted it was all a hoax.

The testimony came in written form, projected on a screen. As Michelle Kehoe watched she began to break down and sob visibly at her defense table.

In the written interview, after officers asked her why she did it, Kehoe wrote "I don't know, please kill me or lock me up forever".

When asked by investigators if she was sorry, she wrote "I want to die, I can't explain this to anyone".

When told that her son Sean was going to be alright, Kehoe wrote in reply "he's not, I stained him, I broke his trust". In another note she wrote, "I can't ever look at Sean again, I don't know how to explain the disease in my head".

Kehoe continued crying in court today as the DCI continued to read her comments.

The agent noted that Kehoe had begun attending a church with someone she knew and she said "I knew they would go to heaven, I would go to hell".

Michelle Kehoe then wrote a note explaining how she had duct-taped her son Sean's eyes before cutting his throat, explaining she attacked him first because her younger son, Seth, was contained in the van. She added, "I'm so sick, I don't feel I can ever be healthy again".

One final comment from Kehoe in response to questions was "I don't want anyone to see me again, I don't deserve it".

Court was recessed until Tuesday due to the availability of a medical witness.

Next Article Cedar Rapids Student Talks to Parents About Being Bullied

Conversation Guidelines

Be Kind

Don't use abusive, offensive, threatening, racist, vulgar or sexually-oriented language.
Don't attack someone personally. Keep it civil and be responsible.

Share Knowledge

Be truthful. Share what you know and what you are passionate about.
What more do you want to learn? Keep it simple.

Stay focused

Promote lively and healthy debate. Stay on topic. Ask questions and give feedback on the story's topic.

Report Trouble

Help us maintain a quality comment section by reporting comments that are offensive. If you see a comment that is offensive, or you feel violates our guidelines, simply click on the "x" to the far right of the comment to report it.

read the full guidelines here »

Commenting will be disabled on stories dealing with the following subject matter: Violent crime, sexual abuse, Amber Alerts, Operation Quickfinds and suicides.