MISSOULA — Leannah Gardipe, facing murder charges for the deaths of her two young children, appeared in a Missoula courtroom on Monday afternoon.
Gardipe, 34 years old, is accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son with a knife on Friday, November 19, 2021.
Judge Alex Beal ordered Gardipe to be held on $10 million bail.
Judge Beal said, “I do not know exactly what or why what happened here, but I think that you are the greatest risk to the community and additionally to yourself. There is no amount of bail that you could post where you could be safely released from jail, so my job is to set an amount that you have no possible hope of posting."
He continued, "I’ll give you $10 million. I do not know what your financial resources are. I assume this is a number you have no possible ability to make, and that’s the reason, explicitly, why I set that.”
Gardipe is expected to undergo a mental evaluation before her next court appearance, which has been scheduled for December 6th.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help the father of the two children with burial expenses; click here if you would like to donate.
Missoula County Sheriff's deputies responded to the home on Patty Ann Drive Friday just after 8 a.m. on Friday for a report of a homicide.
In charging documents, Gardipe's mother called 911 to report that her daughter had called her and that Gardipe said she "saved her babies."
She asked the defendant if that meant she had killed her children and the defendant began crying.
A few minutes later, Gardipe called 911 and said she "want(ed) to report a murder.
Gardipe told 911 that the event happened that morning and that it was done with a knife.
The defendant asked to send medical personnel. According to court documents, Gardipe told the 911 dispatcher: "I was supposed to die today."
Sheriff's deputies found the children in their beds with knife wounds and defensive marks on their hands.
Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on the home, and found a note at the threshold of the bedroom where the children were found that read " [i]t was the only way that we all wouldn't burn, now I'm the only one of us that will."
Deputies recovered the knife underneath the bed.
