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 Megan Huntsman, 39, was ordered to return to court in a week for a
resumption of proceedings against her, giving police more time to
assemble evidence authorities said they need to bring formal
charges, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said.
"The judge's expectation is that we'll have charges by then," Buhman
told Reuters after the brief hearing in Provo, Utah, south of Salt
Lake City. "She did not order that, but she certainly indicated
that's what she's expecting."
Buhman said he intended to charge Huntsman by next Monday.
Huntsman was arrested April 13 on suspicion of murdering six
newborns whose bodies were found rolled up in shirts, towels and
plastic bags and stashed inside cardboard boxes in the garage of her
former home in Pleasant Grove, just north of Provo.
Pleasant Grove police said Huntsman admitted under questioning that
she strangled or suffocated the six babies just after they were born
in a rare case of serial infanticide that ran from 1996 to 2006.
The body of a seventh infant born during that period and disposed of
the same way was also found in the garage, but police believe that
child was stillborn.
Police said Huntsman secretly gave birth to all seven babies at the
house without medical assistance after apparently managing to keep
her pregnancies concealed from the outside world.
Police say she explained her rationale for the killings to
investigators but they have not revealed the alleged motive
publicly.
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Adding to the puzzle is the fact that Huntsman has three surviving
daughters, ages 14, 18 and 20, who live at the house. At least one
of them, the youngest, was presumably born during the period in
which the mother is suspected of slaying the babies.
The sisters share the house with the sister and brother-in-law of
their father, Huntsman's estranged spouse, who discovered one of the
bodies while cleaning out the garage and called authorities, police
have said.
Buhman said medical examiners have conducted autopsies on the
remains of the infants but it will take time for toxicology studies
and other tests to be completed, including DNA analysis to confirm
their parentage.
(Reporting by Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City;
additional
reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by
Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
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