A woman accused of burning one daughter to death and starving another will likely leave Salt Lake City Saturday to face murder charges in California.
Theresa Jimmie Cross, 47, has fought extradition to California ever since she was arrested in Salt Lake City more than a month ago. But 3rd District Judge Timothy Hanson dismissed her appeal Friday, opening the way for her extradition.Placer County, Calif., detectives were expected to transport her back sometime Saturday.
Cross, also known as Theresa Knorr, faces two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The charges were filed after one of Cross' daughters told California authorities about the deaths in October.
The daughter said she and her sisters had been victims of severe child abuse at the hands of their mother. She told authorities that two years before her sister Suesan was killed, her mother shot Suesan during a family argument. The bullet remained lodged in her back, but she eventually recovered.
Two years later, in 1984, Suesan wanted to leave her abusive home. Her mother agreed to let her go but first wanted to remove the bullet from her back, according to court documents. With liquor as the anesthetic, the mother conducted the operation. But an infection set in, and Suesan became delirious and incoherent. After several days the mother decided she wasn't going to recover and would have to kill her, according to the court documents.
Cross and her sons, Bill and Robert, loaded Suesan in the car, drove her to the mountains, poured gasoline on her, lit her on fire and left, the court documents state.
The daughter said her other sister, Sheila Gay Sanders, was killed about a year later after her mother blamed her for contracting venereal disease. According to the documents, Sheila was severely beaten, tied up with shredded bed sheets, put into a linen closet and not given any food or water. After a few days, the closet began to stink.
The brothers allegedly put the body into a box labeled "popcorn cups." They put the box in the trunk of their mother's car, drove to the mountains and left the box with Sheila's body inside.
During Friday's hearing, Cross told the judge she did not believe she was in California when the slayings occurred. But chief deputy attorney Bud Ellett said whether she was there was not an issue for Utah courts. The judge was only deciding whether California has the right to have Utah send the woman there and if she was the right woman.
Quinlan said his client fought extradition to allow time for the media hype to die down in California. He said the fight also gave them time to have California attorneys appointed to represent her.
He declined to discuss the allegations of the case. "That's between her and her attorneys in California," he said. "She seems to be holding up pretty well. She's prepared to go back to California and fight these charges."