An Indiana woman, aged 35, is expected to spend her remaining years in prison for the murder of her two young children, a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl. Brittany Medina confessed to intentionally drowning her children in a bathtub, claiming she wanted to “send them to heaven.” On Wednesday, Medina entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill to two charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, in relation to the deaths of Madelyn and Jackson Shelton, as per court documents.
The presiding judge, Lawrence County Superior Court Judge John M. Plummer III, stated that he would consider the plea agreement “under advisement pending sentencing.” He also ordered a pre-sentence investigation report to be submitted to the court in the following month. If the plea agreement is accepted, it could lead to the dismissal of two murder charges against Medina. The judge scheduled Medina’s sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. on Oct. 23.
As per previous reports, Medina surrendered herself to the Lawrence County Jail on Sept. 26, 2023, at 4:50 p.m., confessing to the authorities that she had killed her children. After being read her Miranda rights, Medina provided a key to her residence and confessed to drowning her two children in the bathroom.
Upon reaching Medina’s residence on West Brook Street, authorities discovered the lifeless bodies of Madelyn and Jackson in the bathroom of Medina’s bedroom. Medina admitted to consuming half a gram of Xanax, a suboxone strip, and snorting three lines of cocaine the night before the incident. She also stated that she had made breakfast and put on cartoons for the children the following morning after her boyfriend left for work.
Medina claimed that around 2:30 p.m., she began hearing voices instructing her to “send her children to heaven today” or face the threat of someone taking her and her children and placing them in a “dark hole.” The voices allegedly warned Medina of torture for all three of them if she did not comply. Following these voices, Medina filled the bathtub with water.
Medina confessed to telling her children she loved them and kissed them before holding them underwater by their necks until they stopped moving. When asked if she was aware that her actions would result in her children’s deaths, Medina confirmed and reiterated her intention to “send them to heaven.”
After the incident, Medina changed into dry clothes and checked on the children to ensure they were “not moving,” noting that “the water was completely still.” She then drove to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and turned herself in. The police arrived at the residence around 7 p.m. and found both children in the tub, with Jackson unclothed and Madelyn in a “flowered onesie.”