DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman suspected of killing two of her young children during a custody dispute with her ex-husband two years ago has been returned from Britain to the United States to face charges, authorities said Tuesday.
Colorado Springs-based District Attorney Michael Allen announced the extradition of Kimberlee Singler, 37, on charges including two counts of first-degree murder ahead of her first court appearance in the coming days.
Singler was arrested in December 2023 in London just over a week after her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were found dead in their home in Colorado Springs. Her 11-year-old daughter was injured but survived. The girl eventually told an investigator that her mother said God made her do it, according to court documents in the United Kingdom.
Singler, who had superficial knife wounds, told police that a man who entered the apartment was responsible. She was initially considered a victim.
The surviving daughter backed up Singler’s claim at first, but police sought to arrest Singler on Dec. 26, 2023, after they said the girl changed her story. By then Singler was gone. She was found four days later in London’s upscale Chelsea neighborhood and arrested. It is not known why she ended up there.
“Today really is a significant milestone in this criminal investigation,” Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said at a news conference. “Singler is accused of committing an unthinkable act. … I know these acts have deeply impacted this community, and our hearts remain with the victims.”
Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.
Follow on
Allen said Singler will be held without bond at least until a preliminary hearing on whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed toward trial. That hearing typically is scheduled within 30 days of an initial court appearance, with some exceptions, he said.
Allen and other officials declined to discuss details of the prosecution’s case beyond procedural steps.
The FBI and Colorado Springs police traveled to London to take custody of Singler, who fought extradition and denied attacking her children.
Her London defense attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, argued that she should not be extradited because if convicted of first-degree murder in Colorado, she would face a mandatory sentence of life without parole — a sentence that violates European human rights law.
Fitzgerald represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his long fight against extradition to face espionage charges in the U.S.
Singler did not yet have a U.S.-based attorney listed as representing her in court documents, according to the court clerk’s office.
A judge rejected Singler’s challenge in January 2025, and her bid for an appeal was denied in November.
Singler also faces one count of attempted murder, three counts of child abuse and one count of assault.
According to U.K. court documents, the children’s bodies were found by police shortly after midnight on Dec. 19, 2023. Police said they found no footprints in the snow leading to a patio where Singler said an intruder entered through an unlocked door and attacked her, causing her to lose consciousness.
She told police that her ex-husband “had previously dreamt about killing his family, that the children’s father was always trying to ‘frame her’ and ‘get her arrested’ and to have the kids taken away from her,” Judge John Zani said in a January ruling against Singler in Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Police said GPS records showed that her ex-husband was driving a truck about 80 miles (130 kilometers) away at the time of the killings.
The family had been staying with Singler’s mother during the custody battle, but the mother was away at the time, according to court documents in the U.K.
The day before the bodies were found, a judge in Colorado ordered Singler to comply with a previous order to allow the father to take custody of them for the holidays, according to state court records. She was told to either give the children to her ex-husband on her own or bring them to a court hearing Dec. 20, 2023, to exchange custody there.
On the day of the hearing, Singler asked the judge to delay it, saying in a motion that she and her children had been attacked and two of them were murdered. She asked for time to grieve and “gain my bearings after this incident.”
