Growing up in Colorado, Kimberlee Singler had a typical childhood.
“We had tons of sleep,” a longtime friend, who wished to remain anonymous, tells PEOPLE. “We watched a lot of movies together. She was just a fun person to be around.”
Singler had a great sense of humor, she says. “She would make me laugh all the time. I laughed easily, but she is very, very funny.”
She did not open up to everyone like that, she notes. “Only for close friends. So she was definitely more for herself.”
The two remained friends throughout high school, but lost touch after graduation.
When she learned that her childhood friend, now 35, had been arrested in London on suspicion of murdering her two youngest children and attempting to kill her oldest child — a story published in this week’s issue of PEOPLE — she was stunned.
“It took my breath away,” she says. “I don’t understand. It is a very sad thing.”
Ellie and Aden Wentz.
GoFundMe
Another person who has known Singler for more than 5 years tells PEOPLE he was shocked to hear the news. “I was definitely very surprised,” he says. “There is no doubt about it. I think that’s something that’s really hard to understand as a parent.”
“She looked like a normal, loving mother,” he adds.
For more on the Kimberlee Singler case, subscribe to PEOPLE now or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
On December 19, 2023, Singler, a divorced single mother, called 911 to report a burglary at the apartment where she lived with her three children.
Officers who arrived at 12:30 p.m. found Singler and her 11-year-old daughter wounded and her two youngest children, 9 and 7, dead inside the home.
Inside a bitter custody battle before Colo. mom accused of murdering 2 children, then fleeing to London
Singler and her surviving daughter were treated for their injuries at the scene before being taken to local hospitals for further treatment.
Authorities questioned Singler and, as they continued to investigate, determined that the initial burglary report was “unfounded,” according to a statement from the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Singler was last seen by someone on Dec. 23, 2023, according to police.
Three days later, investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Singler on charges that include four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of child abuse and one count of first-degree assault, police said in a statement. .
She was arrested on December 30 in Great Britain in a hotel in the center of London.
Singler remains in the UK and is reportedly fighting extradition. It is not clear if she has hired a lawyer who can speak on her behalf. She has not yet entered a plea to the charges.
Police have provided few details about the crime scene or what led them to charge Singler in connection with the deaths of her two children and the attempted murder of her oldest child. Attorneys for Singler’s ex-husband, Kevin Wentz, 38, provided information about how the two have been embroiled in a custody and visitation battle in recent years.
On Wednesday 2011, the couple filed for divorce in 2018, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. Their divorce was finalized in 2020, but they were still allegedly fighting over custody.
In a statement released to the media, Jennifer Darby, one of Wentz’s attorneys, said, “It was a domestic relations case” regarding the case.
“As part of that custody case, the court ordered Kimberlee to bring the children to the father on December 16,” Darby said in a statement.
“She didn’t show up, so on December 18th, Rex Harris filed an emergency motion with the court. The court ordered him to bring the children to Larimer County Court on December 20th, and the children were killed on the 19th.”
A police spokesman would not comment on the custody case, saying only that investigators “included it in our current investigation, which we are not commenting on at this time.”
Details of the arrest warrant are currently sealed by court order and are expected to be unsealed at a later date, police said in a statement.
While police continue to investigate, residents are still trying to figure out how this could have happened.
“It’s a terrible situation,” said one Colorado Springs mother. “Those kids went home for Christmas break and now those kids aren’t coming back to school.”
A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for the Wentz family following the tragedy.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education