Woman Accused of Murdering Her Two Children Appears in Court

34 year-old Leannah Gardipe, the Missoula woman who has been charged with two counts of deliberate homicide after allegedly stabbing her two young children to death, appeared in Missoula District Court on Tuesday before Judge Robert L. ‘Dusty’ Deschamps for a status hearing.

The initial call came in to 9-1-1 last November. According to court documents, the initial report occurred on November 19, 2021, at approximately 8:06 a.m.

‘Missoula County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a report of a homicide in a residence on Patty Ann Drive in Missoula. The initial 9-1-1 caller, H.O., called to report that her daughter, the Defendant, had called H.O. and reported that she had “saved her babies”. H.O. believed the Defendant was referring to the Defendant’s two children, Jane Doe (age 3) and John Doe (age 5). H.O. asked the Defendant if that meant she had killed Jane and John Doe and the Defendant began crying.'

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At Tuesday’s District Court appearance, Gardipe’s attorney Benjamin Darrow told Judge Deschamps that an evaluation was underway by a local psychiatrist.

“Michael Scolatti did an evaluation of Ms. Gardipe and he hasn't completed his report but he's working on it,” said Darrow. “The finding is going to be that she was mentally ill at the time of the incident and so I think the state and I are going to be negotiating GBMI (Guilty but Mentally Ill) plea agreement probably.”

Judge Deschamps asked Darrow to choose an appropriate date for the next status hearing for Gardipe.

“Maybe a month,” said Darrow. “I think that would be adequate, I think the state might want to do an evaluation as well.”

Judge Deschamps set the next status hearing for June 7 at 1:30 p.m.

Gardipe’s bail was continued at $10 million and she was returned to the Missoula County Detention Center.

The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.