IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Woman Who Apparently Killed Self, Toddler, Was Waukee Graduate
Kelli Sly had been struggling with depression, said her mother. Sly's funeral will be at 1 p.m., today at Hamilton’s Funeral Home, 605 Lyon St. followed by burial at Glendale Cemetery.
A 23-year-old woman who apparently killed her 2-year-old son and then herself over the weekend was a 2007 graduate of Waukee High School.
Kelli Sly, 23, told Indianola police officers who checked on her Saturday that she wasn’t suicidal but that she was frustrated because she didn’t have help taking care of her son, Gavin, and her estranged husband, Tim Sly, hadn’t picked him up for visitation, according to The Des Moines Register.
The next day, both Gavin and the woman were dead.
Melinda Talbott, 18, told The Register she had worked at a Casey’s convenience store with Kelli Sly until a couple of weeks ago.
She spoke with Kelli a couple of days ago and said she seemed distraught, although that wasn’t unusual.
Talbott said Kelli found out Friday that she was being evicted from her apartment in a week.
Kelli Sly’s mother, Sherri Sinclair of Waukee, told KCCI-TV Sunday that her daughter had been struggling with depression.
Sly's husband had contacted police because she had tried to hurt herself before and he worried she would do it again, according to authorities cited by the newspaper.
When polcie went to Sly's apartment, she told told them she was not suicidal but was mad at Tim Sly, the paper reported.
“Kelli said that she doesn’t have any type of support system to help her with Gavin and she felt frustrated by this,” police said in the release.
The newspaper said Sly assured police she wouldn’t hurt herself and would call for help if her feelings changed. Officers also spoke again with Tim Sly and with Kelli Sly’s mother.
Norwalk firefighters and police from Des Moines and Norwalk found Sly’s vehicle crashed into a bridge pillar underneath the Iowa Highway 5 bypass along Iowa Highway 28 yesterday morning. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gavin was found dead at the woman's apartment.
Autopsies were planned for both Slys. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is also investigating.
Indianola police Sgt. Brian Sher said evidence at Kelli Sly’s apartment, which was “very neat and organized,” led police to believe the she had killed her son.
“There was an envelope left and it had several items in it,” he said. “There was no suicide letter.”
Todd Richissin
5:01 pm on Monday, March 26, 2012
I wonder if any mental health experts out there have thoughts on this.
maxine weimer
8:45 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012
Todd, I am still wondering why the father of this little boy or the grandmother both knowing she had tried to kill herself before and both knowing that she had mental issues, why on earth did they ever leave that baby alone with her? Couldn't they have gotten a court order or something where she had to have suppervised visitation with him? It sounds to me like she should have been committed to a facility for long term observation. It just seems to me someone should have recognized what she was cappable of. I feel for Kelli's mother, that was her daughter, but I just can't get past someone not being able to see this coming and not being able to stop it. I understand if someone is dead set on killing themself, you really can't stop it, but and I may be wrong, but the baby shouldn't have had to go through that.