Missoula woman gets life in 2 kids' deaths
A Missoula woman was given a life sentence on Monday for killing her two young children in their home near Reserve Street.
Leannah J. Gardipe, 35, killed her two children, who were 3 and 5 at the time, in their Missoula home in November 2021. Sunday marked the two-year anniversary of their deaths.
Gardipe took a plea agreement and admitted to the two deliberate homicide charges in August, court filings show. Missoula County District Judge Robert Deschamps sentenced Gardipe on Monday to life in the custody of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Missoula sheriff's deputies arrived on the morning of Nov. 19, 2021, to Patty Ann Drive. They found the two young children with significant injuries — they had been stabbed to death, according to court documents. The initial 911 caller, Gardipe's mother, said she had been on the phone with Gardipe, who told her mom she had "saved her babies," possibly referring to her two young children, according to charging documents
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At Monday's hearing, the children's father, Travis Sandberg, expressed frustration with Deschamps about Gardipe's mental health when the two were developing a parenting plan, leading up to the children's death. Court filings show that case was litigated from 2017 to 2021, and Deschamps was the presiding judge. The court made Gardipe the primary parent of the children in May 2021.
"You agreed to this final parenting plan," Deschamps said to Sandberg on Monday when he was sharing a victim impact statement.
"I don't think I had a choice," Sandberg replied.
He asked Deschamps to impose a prison sentence as opposed to a hospital commitment, saying Gardipe knew what she was doing when she killed the children. Sandberg reiterated his concerns to the judge about Gardipe's mental health and described the court as a "flawed system."
"I begged and pleaded in this exact courtroom," Sandberg said. "I pleaded over and over again: If you give her these children, she will hurt them."
Gardipe, who experiences severe mental health issues, was found fit to proceed last fall following a doctor's evaluation. Before Deschamps sentenced her, Gardipe again said she wanted to "save" and "protect" the 3and 5-year-old.
"I was supposed to die with them," she said.
Gardipe has been in the Missoula jail since the case was first filed. She was remanded to the custody of the sheriff's office for transport to the DPHHS.
Zoë Buchli is the criminal justice reporter for the Missoulian.
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