The Indiana stepmom charged with strangling her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death and hiding her body in a trash bag has waived her right to an attorney, reportedly telling a judge Monday she “doesn’t need a lawyer.”
Amanda Carmack’s decision to represent herself in court comes after her arrest Wednesday on charges of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, domestic battery resulting in death and strangulation in the death of Skylea Carmack.
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The 34-year-old made her first court appearance Monday for an initial hearing, FOX59 Indianapolis reported. A judge appointed standby counsel in case Carmack changes her mind.
Carmack initially reported the child missing on Aug. 31, hours after she was already dead, prompting a large-scale search for the 10-year-old.
She eventually confessed to the killing at a police station four days after the search began, FOX59 reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.
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Investigators said they then discovered Skylea’s body stuffed in a plastic garbage bag and hidden inside a shed behind the family’s Gas City home. A pair of colored pants were tied around her neck, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Carmack told police she didn’t remember all the details but recalled being “very angry” when she “started choking [Skylea] with her hands” and “thinks she tied something around her neck,” State Police Detective Wendell D. Beachy wrote in the affidavit obtained by the paper.
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Prosecutors have said they intend to seek a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Carmack was being held at the Grant County Jail without bond.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.