The Colorado Springs woman accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son was involved in a contentious, yearslong custody battle with her ex-husband, according to court records.
Kimberlee Singler, 35, is suspected of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, child abuse and assault in the deaths of her daughter and son and injury of her 11-year-old daughter.
Officers responded to a report of a burglary at Singler’s apartment at 12:29 a.m. on Dec. 19 and found Singler and her oldest daughter with injuries and the bodies of her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
The children were identified as Elianna “Ellie” and Aden Wentz by their father and Singler’s ex-husband, Kevin Wentz, in a statement released to KDVR this week, according to the Associated Press. Wentz’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Investigators later determined there was no burglary and obtained an arrest warrant for Singler on Dec. 26. She was arrested in the United Kingdom on Saturday and appeared in court in London on Monday.
Singler filed for divorce in September 2018 in Larimer County, and the case was still open on the day police found her children’s bodies, according to court records.
Singler filed for a protection order in El Paso County on Sept. 14, alleging Wentz threatened her with a kitchen knife when he came to pick up their children at her home on Sept. 8.
Singler claimed she had previously filed an emergency motion to restrict his parenting time because Wentz physically abused their son by nearly drowning him at a swimming pool, but a magistrate vacated the restriction in a Sept. 5 hearing, according to court records.
In the protection order, Singler alleged Wentz pulled out a kitchen knife when she came outside, cursed at her and said “You thought you could keep them from me, huh?”
Singler wrote that she ran back inside, locked the door and called police, who told her Wentz was accusing her of “setting him up” and that she had placed the knife in his hands.
Singler also alleged Wentz was “actively seeking for the Court to grant him sole physical custody and sole decision-making of our children during our current custody battle,” according to the protection order.
Singler again filed an emergency motion to restrict Wentz’s parenting time on Sept. 18, and both Singler and Wentz were ordered to submit to a polygraph test by a Larimer County magistrate on Sept. 29, according to a motion to dismiss the protection order filed by Wentz’s attorney on Dec. 11.
On Nov. 16, the court terminated the restriction of parenting time and ordered make-up of Wentz’s missed parenting time.
Singler was ordered to bring her children to visit Wentz between Dec. 16 and Dec. 31 and was scheduled to meet him at the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Stetson Hills substation on Dec. 16, according to court documents reported by Denver7.
Wentz filed an emergency motion for police to enforce the custody agreement the following day, according to Denver7.
Singler is set to appear in court in London on Jan. 29 to determine whether she should be extradited to the United States, according to the Associated Press.
Singler’s extradition will likely “take a considerable amount of time” and is controlled by a 2003 extradition treaty between the United States and U.K., Colorado Springs police said in a statement Wednesday.
“If the UK courts rule a defendant can be extradited, an executive authority of the government must agree to the extradition. The process provides defendants with multiple appeal steps along the way,” the department said in a statement.
Singler’s arrest warrant is sealed and will likely remain sealed until she appears in court in Colorado, according to the department.
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