Midwest City woman sentenced to life for 2009 killing of stranger

BY NOLAN CLAY

Published: September 14, 2010

A Midwest City woman was sentenced Monday to life in prison after telling a judge she began killing a stranger when a voice "told me to find something to strangle her with."

Kimberly Kay Hegwood, 36, wiped away tears at times as she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and then apologized to the victim's family.

Hegwood admitted that she strangled, smothered then stabbed Alma Block inside the victim's Midwest City home on Feb. 9, 2009. The two had just met in the Midwest City Walmart parking lot. The victim, a retired nurse, was 78.

"I wish I could go back and change it," she said to the victim's family. "I ask for your forgiveness, and I know that one day I may be lucky enough to receive it."

Alberta Kuslak, one of the victim's three sisters, told Hegwood, "It just breaks our hearts that we lost her this way.... We have forgiven you, and may God have mercy on you."

Hegwood's punishment was the outcome of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Hegwood has struggled with mental health issues. She told the judge in her plea paperwork that she has been treated for bipolar disorder and a borderline personality disorder. Her boyfriend testified at a preliminary hearing in November that she was on medication for her bipolar disorder and for depression.

Defense attorneys had given notice they would use an insanity defense at trial.

Judge will recommend

treatment for woman

Oklahoma County District Judge Don Deason said he will recommend to the state Corrections Department that Hegwood get mental health treatment in prison.

He noted there is a serious lack of such programs. He told Hegwood she will not be eligible for parole until she finishes slightly more than 38 years of her sentence.

Hegwood told the judge she went to Walmart on Feb. 9, 2009, to buy a Valentine's Day present for her son. The boy, who is now 10 or 11, lives with his father, records show.

She said she was under the influence of alcohol and pain pills. She said Block was parked next to her at Walmart, and she had the "crazy idea" of stealing Block's purse to get money to buy the present.

She said she claimed to be a home health care aide and followed Block home. She said she then helped Block put up groceries, and they had tea together. She said, when the victim went to feed her cats, "I heard a voice that told me to find something to strangle her with." She said she found an extension cord.

She said she put the extension cord around Block's neck and strangled her. She said she was leaving when she saw the victim get up, so she strangled her again.

She said she then used a pillow to try to smother the victim. She said, when that didn't work, she got a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabbed Block in the neck. She said her mind told her Block couldn't be allowed to live because Block could identify her.

Prosecutors said the victim's relatives were consulted about the plea agreement. At trial, jurors could have chosen either a life sentence or a life sentence without the possibility of parole if they had convicted her of murder. Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty.

Hegwood would have been sent to a state mental hospital if jurors had found her not guilty by reason of insanity.