DNA tests confirm father, gender of 7 dead babies in Pleasant Grove home

Pleasant Grove police investigate the scene where seven infant bodies were discovered and packaged in separate containers at a home in Pleasant Grove on Sunday, April 13, 2014. Over a 10-year period, police say Megan Huntsman, 39, gave birth to the infants and then killed six of them them.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

PLEASANT GROVE Police say meth use is a possible reason a Utah County mother allegedly killed six newborn babies over 10 years.

Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts said Megan Huntsman chose drugs over the children whose bodies were discovered in a Pleasant Grove home in April. A seventh baby, allegedly stillborn, was also found in the home.

"During her statement, (Huntsman) admitted that she needed money basically to buy the drugs, she couldn't afford the drugs, and kind of speculated that the babies would be in the way, so to speak, and she couldn't afford the babies and the drugs both, so she had to choose one or the other," Roberts said.

Huntsman was "very honest and straightforward" during interviews with police, Roberts said.

"There wasn't a lot of remorse," he said. "It was more like a job interview than anything. There was no emotion in what she said. She just gave the facts of what happened."

DNA results show that two of the infants born to Huntsman in the late 1990s and early 2000s were male and five were female, police said.

Roberts said the nuclear DNA testing that came back from an FBI lab in Virginia also confirmed that Huntsman's ex-husband, Darren West, is the father of all seven children.

"This is consistent with the statements we received from Megan, and it kind of just put our story together, what we believe happened," Roberts said.

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DNA tests confirm father, gender of 7 dead babies in Pleasant Grove home