Jurors in Kehoe trial hear son recall murder details

Posted on Oct 29, 2009 by Trish Mehaffey.

Grisly details were revealed Thursday during Michelle Kehoes murder trial of what happened last year when 2-year-old son Seths neck was slashed and he died.

Brother Sean Kehoe, 7, told investigators, paramedics and a doctor his mother drove them into a wooded area in Littleton and duct taped his eyes, mouth and nose before cutting his neck and then hurt Seth, who he heard crying outside the family van. Sean took off the duct tape and then locked himself in the van away from his mother. He didnt see Seth until the next morning when he was lying in the bushes dead.

Kehoe, charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, is accused of killing Seth and attempting to kill Sean Oct. 27, 2008 by a pond near Littleton. She is claiming insanity as her defense.

The trial was moved from Buchanan County to Grundy County because of pretrial publicity.

The jurors had the chance to hear much of the story from Sean himself because the tapes of police interviews with Sean were played in court. All the investigators and paramedics said Sean was smart, articulate and credible.

Sean told police when he got out of the van that next morning, his mother was gone.

Kehoe apparently left the van and walked about a quarter mile to a residence on River Road owned by Debra Hinde, of Littleton. Hinde testified a woman or as she first thought, a neighbor boy, knocked on her door early Oct. 27, and the boy was laying against the door as she opened it. The boy was covered in blood and she called 911. As she was calling, the boy crawled into her house and laid down in the fetal position on her kitchen floor.

Hinde said she realized at this point it wasnt the neighbor boy. The person had a difficult time communicating with her. She couldnt breathe very well and was writing information on paper. She wrote down a phone number and told Hinde her name, Michelle Kehoe, so Hinde called the number and told them Kehoe was hurt. Hinde didnt actually see her injury until the paramedics arrived. Kehoe had an open wound on her neck, she said.

The other note Kehoe wrote to Hinde said a man tried to kill her and her sons, Hinde said.

Assistant Attorney General Andy Prosser said in his opening statement that the story about a man trying to kill them was made up as part of Kehoes plan, which he said was planned a month before.

Amy Pollpeter, a criminalist with the DCI lab, read the note found during a search of Kehoes van. Kehoe said she was hit in the head by a man after he tried to force them to take him to Chicago. Kehoe wrote she attempted to pepper spray him but he overpowered her and knocked her unconscious. When she awoke, Seth was dead and Sean was injured.

Prosser said theres proof that Kehoe planned this crime a month before because she purchased a hunting knife at a sporting goods store in September and then also some duct tape.