A Colorado mother wanted in connection with the deaths of two of her children has been extradited to the United States, two years after her arrest in the United Kingdom.
Kimberlee Singler was brought back to the U.S. on Tuesday, Dec. 23, to face charges including first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault, the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Singler, now 37, was arrested at a hotel in central London on Dec. 30, 2023. Authorities said she left the country just days after her 9-year-old daughter, Elianna, and 7-year-old son, Aden, were found dead at the family’s home in Colorado Springs on Dec. 19, 2023.
Police responded to the home after a 911 call reported a burglary. Singler and her 11-year-old daughter were treated for injuries, but investigators later determined the burglary report was unfounded.
An arrest warrant was issued for Singler on Dec. 26, 2023, but authorities said she had already fled by then.
During a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in September 2024, prosecutor Joel Smith said the two children were fatally shot and stabbed. The surviving child was allegedly stabbed multiple times as she begged her mother to spare her, Smith claimed, per the Associated Press.
“The defendant told her that God was telling her to do it, and that the children’s father would take them away,” Smith said in court, according to the outlet.
The prosecutor also alleged that Singler attempted to shift blame to her ex-husband, Kevin Wentz, amid a custody dispute. Smith said Singler told police that a “dark figure” entered her apartment and that she fainted, the AP reported.
However, Wentz’s alibi checked out, and the 11-year-old allegedly told a caretaker that her mother instructed her to lie to officers about a man breaking into their home, Smith claimed during the hearing, per the AP.
Singler’s U.K. defense attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said in court that Singler did not hurt her children and argued that police pressured the surviving daughter into making false statements, the AP reported. He also opposed her extradition to Colorado, where she could face life without parole — a sentence he said would violate European human rights law, per the outlet.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said Singler is being held without bail until her preliminary hearing, the AP reported. It is unclear whether she has retained a U.S. attorney to speak on her behalf.
“Singler is accused of committing an unthinkable act,” the chief said. “I know these acts have deeply impacted this community, and our hearts remain with the victims.”
