UPDATE:
Hot Springs, Ark. (AP) — A 47-year-old Hot Springs woman has avoided a possible death sentence by pleading guilty to killing her 71-year-old mother and her 8-year-old daughter.
Court documents show Melissa Galey pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to two terms of life in prison. Prosecutors had previously announced they would seek the death penalty.
Galey admitted in a signed plea agreement that she is “not innocent” and “did in fact” kill her mother, Wanda Self, and daughter, Megan Galey at Self’s home in November 2018.
Investigators say Self and Megan Galey were stabbed to death and Melissa Galey was found climbing out from an area underneath the house, which authorities say appeared to have been set on fire.
An arson charge against Melissa Galey was dismissed.
Original Story:
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A woman is being held without bond in a double homicide that claimed the lives of her mother and daughter early Wednesday.
The Hot Springs Police Department (HSPD) said Wednesday afternoon that Wanda Self, 71, and Megan Galey, 8, died of multiple stab wounds.
Melissa Galey, 46, is facing two counts of Capital Murder in the killings and one count of Criminal Attempt at Arson.
The HSPD says Galey climbed out from underneath the house as officers searched the property. They reported she was covered in blood.
Officers had gone to the home at 2208 Lakeshore Dr. on a welfare check shortly before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Police say Galey admitted killing both victims and said she had then tried to set the house on fire. She reportedly told investigators she’d been planning it for a week.
