True Crime Friday: Megan Huntsman, the Child Murders Serial Killer
Megan Huntsman was born in the State of Utah on February 26, 1975. On April 24, 2014, Megan’s ex-husband Darren West was cleaning out the garage of his house when he discovered a dead infant in a box. Shocked to the core, he called the authorities. Megan Huntsman admitted to the police that she had given birth to the child, but the baby was still born. Once the police began to interview her about the child, she confessed to four more babies that were killed and placed in boxes of her garage. Megan Huntsman committed all her murders either by strangulation or suffocation. In total there would be nine babies that were discovered in that garage. Megan had killed them all but was only convicted of six murders because the other three victims were too decomposed, and the police could not determine when they were born or how they died.
After the children were born Megan choked them to death or put a pillow over their heads. She put their bodies in the garage hoping that they would never be discovered. Darren West was the father to the infants but unbeknownst to him Megan had murdered all of them. She had three children with him that were spared. So, if you are keeping count they had twelve children in total.
The Early Childhood of Megan Huntsman
Megan grew up in Pleasant Grove as the eldest child of a strict Mormon household. They attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She had not been a regular attendee at the church for some time. Megan and Darren were high school sweethearts, and they married after she turned eighteen years old. Their marriage was plagued by substance abuse and domestic violence. West was charged with methamphetamine drug charges and was in prison from 2006 through 2014.Huntsman would commit the murders while her then husband, brother-in-law and sister were in the house watching television. Megan Huntsman's first three children were not harmed and lived with her at the time of the gruesome discovery.
Infanticide
There are quite a few names for when people kill each other such as homicide, but when a mother murders babies, it is referred to as Infanticide. What is Infanticide? In medical terminology it is the intentional killing of infants or offspring's. These types of murders have been widespread practices throughout history.One of the main purposes of infanticide is the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure. In some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide is murder in the United States. But in some societies, it is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced. Due to the children who survived being minors there names were not listed in the public record.
The Victims of Megan Huntsman
- Baby 1
- Baby 2
- Baby 3
- Baby 4
- Baby 5
- Baby 6
- Baby 7
- Baby 8
- Baby 9
The Survivors of Megan Huntsman
- Child 1
- Child 2
- Child 3