Mother-of-two, 26, is sentenced to life in prison for intentionally driving her car into a river and killing her five-year-old daughter during failed suicide attempt
- Scharron Dingledine was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years for first-degree murder, and nearly 13 years for attempted murder
- Dingledine drove a stolen car into Kansas River in August to kill herself and her two kids
- Her five-year-old daughter Amiyah perished, but Dingledine and her one-year-old son, Elijah, were rescued and survived
- Dingledine had been released from a psychiatric ward just 24-hours before She stole two cars and drove her children to the river
- She pleaded pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder charges in December 2018
A suicidal 26-year-old Missouri woman who deliberately drove her car into the Kansas River with her two young children inside has been sentenced to life in prison.
Scharron Dingledine, of Columbia, Missouri, learned her fate Tuesday, a month after she pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Prosecutors said she drove her car into the river near Lawrence in August 2018. She and her one-year-old son, Elijah, were rescued. The body of her five-year-old daughter, Amiyah Bradley, was recovered the next day.
Scharron Dingledine, 26 (left), was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the drowning death of her 5-year-old Amiyah Bradley (right)
Dingledine’s car is seen being lifted out of the Kansas River in Missouri in August after the deadly incident
Courtesy of KSHB
Dingledine told police she drove into the river in an attempt to kill herself and her children. She said she knew neither child could swim and would likely die.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Dingledine was released from a psychiatric facility, where she had admitted herself following a domestic dispute with her boyfriend.
A probable cause affidavit revealed that after Dingledine was released, her boyfriend agreed to take her to a shelter. But as he stopped at a store, the woman drove off in his car, with the children inside.
She later stole another car after running out of gas, and spent the night in the vehicle.
The next day, feeling ‘depressed and worried about the consequences of her actions’, Dingledine drove to the Kansas river, and let her children out to play around and dip their feet in the water.
Divers removed Amiyah’s body out of the water a day after the August 3 incident
The 26-year-old said she decided the river was a good way to kill herself, and she decided to kill her children because she ‘didn’t want anyone else to have them’.
She told detectives she accelerated into the river while the children were unrestrained in the front seat, according to the affidavit.
Elijah was pronounced dead at the scene before being revived by paramedics.
He has been critically injured by the encounter, and according to Amiyah’s dad, Clint Bradley, the toddler will likely ‘never be the same kid mentally or physically’.
‘I don’t even hurt at this point for me, I hurt for her,’ Bradley said to KOMU News last month.
Bradley said the woman who killed his daughter isn’t the same mother who ‘would have done anything for her.’
Dingledine told police she drove into the river in an attempt to kill herself and her children (Amiyah is pictured left and right)
He said Dingledine had a history of mental health issues and depression.
The first officer on the scene later recounted how Dingledine screamed ‘let me die!’ as she was being rescued from the river.
The woman was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the first-degree murder charge, and nearly 13 years for the attempted murder charge.
According to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, any post-release for Dingledine will be determined by the Kansas Department of Corrections Prisoner Review Board.