HILLSBORO, Mo. – A Jefferson County woman who admitted killing her two children in 2024 appeared in court on Wednesday to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Ashley Parmeley walked into the Festus Police Department on May 28, 2024, and confessed to killing her children—Scarlet, 9, and her brother, Isaac, 2.

Parmeley told police she shot Scarlet, who was found in Parmeley’s car outside the police station. Despite efforts to save her, Scarlet died at the scene.

Parmeley then directed officers to Timber Creek Resort near DeSoto, where they found her son, Isaac, in a fountain near the entrance. He was pronounced dead as well.

Prosecutors charged Parmeley with two counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

At the request of her attorney. Parmeley underwent a mental health evaluation by an independent forensic examiner. The evaluation concluded that she could not comprehend right from wrong at the time of the killings. The prosecuting attorney’s office requested a second opinion from the Missouri Department of Mental Health (MODMH). The second evaluation echoed the first diagnosis: that Parmeley “did not understand the nature of wrongfulness of her actions at the time the incident occurred.”

The judge overseeing the case had Parmeley committed to the DMH.