MARION — The stepmother of a murdered Grant County girl is going on trial this week in Marion.
It was September of last year when 10-year-old Skylea Carmack's body was found in a shed behind her home, covered in a plastic trash bag.
Stepmother Amanda Carmack, 34, was arrested and charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, domestic battery, and strangulation.
The Grant County Coroner said Skylea died of strangulation and had been dead four days when state police found her body.
According to court documents, when questioned by detectives about whether she had done anything to the child, Amanda Carmack said, "I don't remember," or "it doesn't matter." But she eventually admitted to killing Skylea in the barn behind their house.
Carmack described choking Skylea with her hand and then tying "something" around the girl's neck. Carmack said she did it because she was angry and claimed "mental disease" as her defense. But a mental evaluation found the woman was competent to stand trial.
If convicted, Carmack could face life in prison.
