A former television news anchor in Kansas has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after stabbing her 80-year-old mother to death inside their Wichita home on Halloween morning last year.
Angelynn Mock, a former anchor at KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis, entered the guilty plea Friday during a hearing in Sedgwick County.
Mock was arrested on Oct. 31 after police were called to the home she shared with her mother, Anita Avers.
Officers arrived around 7:50 a.m. and found Avers suffering from multiple stab wounds to her face, neck, torso and arms.
She was rushed to a hospital but died less than an hour later.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Mock told investigators that she went into her mother’s room that morning and found Avers sharpening knives.
Mock claimed her mother then tried to attack her and chased her through the house.
“I had to kill her, she wasn’t going to stop,” Mock allegedly told police.
She also claimed her mother was jealous over a possible job opportunity.
Later, while being questioned by police, Mock reportedly began talking to herself.
“I’d kill that bi— to have my mom back any day,” she allegedly said, according to court records. “I don’t even know who she is anymore. I know, I believe she’s the devil.”
Mock’s stepfather, Barry Avers, told investigators that she had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder before that diagnosis was later changed to schizoaffective disorder.
He said Mock had been taking medication and had generally been close with her mother.
He also told police that Mock had previously lost a television news job following an alcohol-related incident.
The criminal case was delayed earlier this year after Mock was found incompetent to stand trial in January.
That ruling was reversed in late July, allowing the case to move forward.
Mock then pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5.
Mock worked as a full-time anchor at KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis from March 2011 until February 2015.
She had previously held several reporting jobs before eventually leaving television news and moving into sales and other business-related work.
The guilty plea brings the case one step closer to an end nearly a year after the shocking Halloween morning killing.