Kane Co. woman sentenced to 20 years in death of disabled daughter
In April 2006, Betty Whitten sat in her car near the Prairie Street bridge in St. Charles -- her dead daughter in the passenger seat -- and contemplated suicide.
Nearly two years later, the 59-year-old Campton Township woman stood next to her defense attorney and admitted her guilt.
Kane County Judge Philip DiMarzio approved a 20-year prison sentence for Whitten after she pleaded "guilty but mentally ill" Friday in the stabbing murder of Nyakiambi, 34, who was born with cerebral palsy and was mentally and physically disabled.
"It's a very, very sad, tragic situation," prosecutor Greg Sams said. "The defendant without a doubt had mental health issues. (But) the state does not in any way believe she was insane at the time of the crime."
Whitten has spent the last two years in the Kane County jail on $2 million bail. She is eligible for day-per-day credit on her sentence, meaning she could be released from prison in about eight years.
Prosecutors initially charged Whitten with first-degree murder, which carries a maximum prison term of 60 years. Sams said Whitten's husband, Eartsin, friends and other family members were consulted before the plea agreement was reached.
"Everybody believed that this was a fair disposition," Sams said.
During the short hearing, Whitten appeared in an orange jumpsuit, her black and gray hair parted down the middle into two braids above each ear. She told DiMarzio that she was on 11 different medications.
"She has been diagnosed as a person suffering from extreme depressive disorder," said defense attorney Herb Hill.
Authorities received a 911 call around 11 a.m. April 3, 2006, from Whitten's 25-year-old daughter Rachael. She told police her mother tried to kill her with a kitchen knife, but she escaped. Whitten stabbed Nyakiambi three times in the chest and then dragged her to Whitten's car.
Whitten then mailed a letter to her church deacon before driving to downtown St. Charles. An officer spotted her Hyundai stopped near the Prairie Street bridge and thought it was disabled. When the officer approached, Whitten hit the gas and plunged over a short wall and to the Fox River bike path below.
Sams said authorities recovered a bloody knife from the car and that Whitten said she believed Nyakiambi was being abused and her husband had been unfaithful.
In the letter, Sams said, Whitten wrote that she "can't believe Earstin would sacrifice me and my girls. Well guess what -- I'll kill them myself and we'll drive in the Fox River."
In June 2006, DiMarzio ruled Whitten was fit to stand trial after a psychiatrist at the Elgin Mental Health Center said the woman was on anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications, that she no longer wanted to commit suicide, and could assist in her defense.
DiMarzio recommended Whitten be sent to a prison that has a mental health wing. The judge delayed, at Hill's request, sending Whitten to prison for two weeks so her divorce case could go to trial.