Mom Says Intruder Killed Kids, Now She's Under Arrest - CUSTODY BATTLE TURNS DEADLY

KIMBERLEE SINGLER AND HER EX-HUSBAND FOUGHT OVER WHO WOULD RAISE THEIR KIDS. NOW SHE'S SUSPECTED OF MURDERING TWO OF HER CHILDREN

- K.C. BAKER, WENDY GROSSMAN KANTOR

Twinkly lights cast a soft glow on the quiet, snow-free streets of Colorado Springs in the unusually warm days before Christmas. Like other students at Odyssey Elementary School, Kimberlee Singler’s first and third graders were released from class early on Dec. 15, excited at the start of the long winter break. But four days later the tranquility of the season was shattered when the divorced single mother called 911 after midnight to report an intruder at the condo where she lived with her three children.

Police officers who responded found a terrifying scene: Singler, 35, along with her oldest daughter, 11, had been wounded in what she described to police as a burglary attempt turned violent, and nearby in the residence were the bodies of the two younger children, Ellie, 9, and Aden, 7. “It was absolutely horrific,” says a shocked local resident. “Those kids went home from school for the break—and now they’re never going back.”