A woman from Alabama was given a life sentence after the murder of her 4-year-old daughter back in 2016. The mother, Stephanie Diane Smith, also known as Stephanie Diane Cooper, pleaded guilty on August 11.
Murdered her daughter
According to the report of NBC 3, Smith was brought to the courtroom in Athens, Alabama. Her pleading guilty spared her from receiving the death penalty. The plea means that she could be eligible for parole in the future, but it is not clear how much time she will need to serve before she becomes eligible.
The New Courier reported that authorities initially could not determine the cause of death of the 4-year-old victim Zadie Wren Cooper, who died on July 7, 2016, at Huntsville Hospital. Three days before her death, Smith called 911 and reported that the child was not responding after she found her trapped between her bed and a wall.
The family opted for a private autopsy for Zadie to help determine the cause of death, but while waiting on the results, Smith walked into a police station in Athens and asked to talk to a detective, nine months after her daughter's death. She then confessed that she used a pillow to suffocate her daughter to death.
Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson said during a 2017 news conference that Smith told them that she has mental issues and at the time she had some issues and she was not on her medication.
Smith went into her daughter's room, put a pillow over her head as the child was sleeping on her back, and she smothered the child. When she came to her senses, she realized what she had done. She removed the pillow but the child was no longer breathing, that was when she called 911.
According to Johnson, before Smith went to the police station, she sent text messages to five friends and admitted that she killed her daughter. Only one of the five friends shared the information with the police.
Mental health issues
Johnson also said that Smith suffered from numerous issues but he was not qualified to comment on Smith's mental health issues.
Smith told investigators that she had not taken her medication for three days before the death of her daughter and admitted that she "sees red" and she does not know what happened until it goes away, as reported by Atlanta News.
Johnson stated that Smith was in pain in the aftermath of her daughter's death and said that if she did not admit to what she had done, she might harm herself.
According to court records, Smith and her husband, Joshua Cooper, were separated at the time of their daughter's death. The couple had been married for five years before filing for divorce in 2016.
Cooper was the one who filed for divorce and he claimed that it as an "irretrievable breakdown of the marital relationship." He asked the court for joint custody of their daughter.
Two months after Zadie's death, the court granted the divorce. Smith has been locked up at the Limestone County Jail since the 2017 confession. She is now scheduled to transfer to prison, even though it is not clear which one she will end up at.