Ellyzabeth Rainey Affidavit (1.5 Mb)

Woman who tortured her mother in law to death by pouring boiling water over her and stabbing her is jailed for 40 years

DailyMail.co.uk

April 6, 2014

20-year-old Colorado Springs woman Ellyzabeth Rainey has been sentenced to 41 years in prison for the horrific 2013 stabbing murder of her mother-in-law.

Rainey pled guilty in January to second-degree murder of Deborah Rainey, 59.

She admitted to killing her by throwing dousing her with boiling water followed by throwing free weights at her, then stabbing her and pouring bleach into her mouth and nose.

Desperate, she even threw her baby at police in an escape attempt.

The attack happened at Rainey's apartment in southeast Colorado Springs where she lives with her husband, Jason Rainey, and a newborn baby, ABC News reported, citing a local police report.

The couple's relationship was on the verge of divorce at the time, police said.

Deborah Rainey had been staying at the apartment to help care for the couple's baby.

'Ms. Rainey commented that Deborah has never liked her anyway … she got tired of being pushed around so 'she killed her,' Det. Shawn Peterson stated in an affidavit.

The two women had long had arguments.

Rainey had recently been hospitalized for 'hallucinating' 'voices' that Deborah was going to take everything from her.

After killing Deborah, she hid the body under an air mattress before her husband came home from work.

Police came to the scene after responding to a noise complaint from the neighbors.

Upon arriving they heard a baby crying and saw a bloody butcher's knife resting on the kitchen counter.

Rainey presented the baby to officers, asking them to take the child 'because I just killed someone' and she had to go on the run.

She threw the baby at them then tried to escape, but officers caught her on the street.

Once at the police station, Rainey identified herself as bipolar since the age of 10, but said she did not take medication.

Neither Jason Rainey or Ellyzabeth Rainey's attorney, Todd Johnson, could be reached for comment.

Woman Gets 41 Years for Stabbing Death of Mother-In-Law

By Liz Fields - ABCnews.go.com

April 6, 2014

A 20-year-old Colorado Springs woman has been sentenced to 41 years in prison for the gruesome stabbing murder of her mother-in-law, authorities said.

Ellyzabeth Rainey was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in January to the second-degree murder of her husband's mother, Deborah Rainey, 59, whom she killed by throwing boiling water on her, hurling free weights at her head, stabbing her and pouring bleach into her mouth and nose.

The events took place in April 2013 at Ellyzabeth Rainey's apartment in the Tanager Meadows complex in southeast Colorado Springs, where she lived with her husband Jason Rainey and newborn baby, according to an affidavit signed by a Colorado Springs police detective.

At the time, the couple's relationship was deteriorating and they were about to get a divorce, police said. Deborah Rainey had been staying at the house for two weeks to help take care of the couple's 2-month-old baby.

"Ms Rainey commented that Deborah has never liked her anyway … she got tired of being pushed around so 'she killed her,'" Det. Shawn Peterson said in the affidavit.

Investigators said Ellyzabeth Rainey had long quarreled with her mother-in-law and had been hospitalized recently for "hallucinating." The 20-year-old said "voices" told her that her mother-in-law was going to take everything away from her.

On April 3, Ellyzabeth Rainey invited her moter-in-law for a home-cooked dinner, then violently killed the woman and covered her body with an air mattress before her husband came home from work.

Ellyzabeth Rainey admitted to boiling hot water and throwing it on her mother-in-law while she was sitting on the couch to "distract her," police said. She then threw her husband's loose weights at Deborah Rainey's head and stabbed her multiple times in the stomach, heart and throat to make sure she was dead. At some point, Rainey forced bleach into the woman's mouth and nostrils.

When police arrived at the apartment to respond to a noise complaint from a neighbor, they heard a baby crying and went inside the home where they saw a bloody butcher's knife lying on the kitchen counter.

Ellyzabeth Rainey picked up the baby and told officers to take the child because she was about to run. When they asked why, Rainey said "because I just killed someone," police said.

Rainey then threw the baby at one of the officers before bolting, said police. One of the officers caught up with Rainey further down the street, while another went inside the house and discovered the body.

At the station, police noted the woman smelled strongly of bleach and took a statement from Rainey, in which she admitted she had been diagnosed as bipolar when she was 10, but did not take any medication, police said.

ABC News was unable to reach Jason Rainey or Ellyzabeth Rainey's attorney, Todd Johnson, for comment.

Police: Dinner invitation led to mother-in-law's killing

By Lance Benzel - ColoradoSprings.com

July 9, 2013

After weeks of quarreling with her mother-in-law, she offered her a home-cooked meal.

But when Ellyzabeth Joy Rainey put water on the stove to simmer, claiming she was making pasta, it was anything but a peace offering.

A Colorado Springs police detective on Tuesday described a two-hour interrogation in which he said Rainey, 20, freely recounted details of the April 3 slaying of Deborah Rainey. After first subduing the woman with scalding water in her apartment in the Tanager Meadows complex, 1384 Sandalwood Drive, Rainey allegedly said she bludgeoned her with free weights, stabbed her in the chest with a butcher knife and filled her mouth with bleach.

"She said she wanted to make sure she was dead," detective Shawn Peterson testified at a daylong pre-trial hearing for Rainey. A judge ruled that evidence against her is strong enough to try her on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Rainey, who will be held without bond at the El Paso County jail, is scheduled to return to court on Thursday for an arraignment.

At the time of the killing, Deborah Rainey, of San Francisco, had been visiting Colorado Springs to help take care of the couple's newborn child.

The Raineys' marriage - described by another investigator as "tumultuous" - further unraveled during the visit and they planned on getting a divorce, police said.

The probable cause ruling by 4th Judicial District Judge G. David Miller came despite arguments by her public defenders that Rainey is suffering from mental illness and didn't understand what she was doing.

Rainey, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 10, claimed she had been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility days before the killing after seeing hallucinations and becoming suicidal, though police say they have yet to corroborate that claim.

During her interrogation by Peterson, Rainey giggled nervously and spoke of "voices" that told her that her husband's mother was trying to "take everything away" from her, Johnson said in arguing that his client didn't have a "culpable mental state."

Prosecutors countered that Rainey appeared to understand the questions asked of her and displayed no obvious signs of mental distress.

Police said Rainey admitted to buying a set of knives two days earlier, which she said she hid in the laundry room. She also moved her husband's free weights from a bedroom into the living room in preparation for the attack, which allegedly commenced with Rainey dumping boiling water on the older woman as she checked Facebook on a laptop in the living room.

Deborah Rainey's son was at work during the attack on his mother, police said.

Whether the defense intends to offer an insanity plea should become clear at the arraignment scheduled for later this week.

Ellyzabeth Rainey