The trial for an Irving woman accused of killing her two children is expected to wrap up this week.
Madison McDonald, 31, faces two counts of capital murder, according to Fox 4.
McDonald allegedly told police at the Irving Police Department on April 5, 2021, that she had smothered her two children, a 1-year-old and a 6-year-old, after calling 911 from inside the police department.
Police found the two children dead in their beds at McDonald’s apartment in Valley Ranch after she made the call.
During the opening of the trial on April 12, jurors listened to the 911 call in which McDonald reported the murders.
911 Operator: “Who was murdered?”
McDonald: “My children.”
911 Operator: “Murdered when?”
McDonald: “Today.”
911 Operator: “Murdered where? In what city?”
McDonald: “Irving.”
911 Operator: “Who murdered them, and how many children do you have?”
McDonald: “I have two, I have two.”
911 Operator: “You have two kids?”
McDonald: “Yes.”
911 Operator: “Who murdered them?”
McDonald: “I sedated them and smothered them to protect them from our family that is putting them in child porn.”
911 Operator: “You sedated them and smothered them?”
McDonald: “Yes.”
According to the arrest affidavit, McDonald allegedly claimed that the children were being abused and that she would do whatever it took to protect them, including “eliminating them.”
“This is unfortunate. I know no one will understand, but as a mother, you do anything in this world to keep them safe, and if that means I have to eliminate them and pay the price for the rest of my life, I will. They are hurting them,” McDonald reportedly said at the police station, according to Fox 4.
Child Protective Services and police investigated these claims but found no evidence of abuse.
Video taken from a security camera shows McDonald loitering around the police station carrying two child-sized blankets and documents, claiming the items were evidence of abuse. Police did not comment on what was contained in the papers
McDonald’s attorney, Daniel Lewis, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
In his opening statement, Lewis argued that McDonald had previously been treated and medicated for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and was unaware of the ramifications of what she was doing at the time of the alleged murders because she was in the throes of a mental health episode.
Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Emily Ogden testified that the children had been given sedatives, confirming what McDonald had said in the 911 call.
McDonald’s mother, Julie Kidd, testified on Monday that McDonald often had bouts of mania related to her mental illness.
“I had had multiple conversations with my daughter that morning which were very manic in nature, statements, words, accusations, very negative, very hateful,” Kidd said, Fox 4 reported. “In those last several months, she frequently believed that she did not have a diagnosis, that we had concocted all of this.”
Kidd also testified that her daughter had multiple personalities, each with a different name that McDonald had given them.
On Tuesday, jurors were shown a video of McDonald telling police officers that she deserved consequences for her actions.
“I’m not okay. I don’t think it’s right. I think I do deserve to be arrested and serve time,” McDonald said in the video, according to NBC DFW.
Dr. Lisa Clayton, a psychiatrist, testified for the defense, stating that McDonald was “essentially manic” at the time of the murders. She claimed McDonald had not received appropriate care for her schizophrenia and bipolar diagnoses years before the murders.
