'I just wanna die,' distraught Lisa Batstone told police after killing her daughter
Newly released police interview reveals mother's state of mind
Lisa Batstone was cold and distraught when police interviewed her the evening of the December day she was found with the body of her eight-year-old daughter, Teagan, in her car.
" I just wanna die," she kept telling the homicide officers who were tasked with getting her to explain what happened.
Though she kept saying her lawyer told her not to talk, she did — outlining the despair she felt, the personal and professional help she was seeking but not getting, the medications she was on for depression, her frustrations dealing with her ex-husband, Gabe Batstone, and her efforts to end her own life once she smothered her daughter.
The interview was conducted by RCMP officers Const. Emilie Tousignant and Sgt. Darren Carr on Dec 10, 2014, and the two-hour recordings were released to the CBC and another media organization by the court upon request.
Batstone was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Teagan. Testimony in the B.C. Supreme Court trial, which was heard before a judge, wrapped up Jan. 23.
Justice Catherine Murray will deliver a verdict on March 22.
Watch as Lisa Batstone tells police about her daughter's death
Both Crown and defence relied on the interview during the trial to prove their take on the child's murder — the Crown arguing it was premeditated and should be considered second degree murder and defence arguing it was spontaneous and the charge should be downgraded to manslaughter.
"Nobody took me seriously and I was trying to get help ... I tried so hard.," Batstone told Tousignant. "I loved that girl more than anything ... and I was just exhausted, and I couldn't keep up."
She admitted to smothering her daughter with a plastic bag while she slept in the living room during a "camp-out" with her mother.
Batstone told police the child's murder wasn't planned but she planned and tried to kill herself with a bag afterwards. When that didn't work, she said, she thought she could end her life by driving off a cliff or stabbing herself.
She said she put her daughter's body in the car and was trying to drop off the family dog with friends when the car went into a ditch.
"I went and knocked on someone's door and said please call the police, my daughter's dead in my car ... and then I crawled in and snuggled with her until the last minute,"she said.
Crown says its case relies on post-offence conduct by Batstone to imply intent, primarily the statements she made to police: that by taking the action she took, she meant to kill her. That she had the intention to cause death.