4 high-profile Arizona female killer cases in court this month

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A bizarre phenomenon of female killers is unfolding in the Arizona court system right now.

In February alone, four high-profile women are in court, accused of killing their own children, or masterminding a hit on their spouse while lying to their kids about it.

Four mothers. Four spotlight court cases. It’s rare to see this many suspected female killers; let alone in cases that make it to trial. So why are we seeing so many?

“I think whenever there’s a female killer involved the interest is heightened,” said trial lawyer Tom Ryan. “I think it’s even more shocking when a mother, who has an image in America as being a nurturer of the children, commits such a heinous act.”

Ryan is a trial lawyer and said it is unusual to see this many female cases - with child victims- at one time.

On trial this week is Yui Inoue, who’s accused of killing her two kids with a meat cleaver, and Kimberly Lacount, a capital case with the death penalty on the line for allegedly masterminding the death of her spouse with her new lover. That crime took place with her kids at home. They will now be witnesses in their own mother’s trial.

Rachel Henry’s final day in court is on Friday. Police said the mom smothered her three kids, then propped them up to make them look like they were napping. Henry will be sentenced to life in prison after taking a plea deal.

In two weeks, the conspiracy trial for “doomsday mom” Lori Vallow will begin for the death of her 4th husband and the attempted death of her niece’s ex-husband. The cult mother was already convicted of killing her two young children.

Ryan said most cases like these never make it to trial.

“The reason we are seeing many trials of mothers right now is many times when there’s a case of filicide, a mother or father will also commit the act of suicide, so there isn’t going to be a follow-up trial,” said Ryan.

Ryan said these are challenging cases, and typically when children are killed, it’s in an especially heinous way, often in a postpartum depression mindset, or severe mental health challenges.

But he said in Lacount’s case, allegedly ordering a hit on your spouse who recently transitioned from a woman to a man and doing that with your own children home who were lied to about what happened, makes for one of the hardest aspects of a death penalty case.

“In the circumstances where you’re testifying against your own parent who murdered your family, that is a vastly different emotional burden for these young people to be carrying around,” said Ryan.

He said while the alleged “female killer” title plagues all four cases, none of them will play out remotely the same.

“There’s not one unifying motive in all of these cases that you could use a singular defense,” said Ryan.

Opening statements in the Lacount conspiracy to commit murder case are set to begin Wednesday morning.

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