Mother who threw kids from Sellwood Bridge in 2009 dies in prison
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Amanda Stott-Smith, the mother who tossed her children into the Willamette River from Portland's Sellwood Bridge in 2009, killing one of them, has died in custody at the age of 45.
The Oregon Department of Corrections stated that Stott-Smith died at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility during the morning hours of June 4. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine Stott-Smith’s cause of death.
“Next of kin has been notified,” the DOC stated in a press release. “DOC takes all in-custody deaths seriously.”
Stott-Smith was sentenced to life in prison in April of 2010 with the possibility of parole in 35 years after pleading guilty to aggravated murder of her 4-year-old son Eldon and the attempted aggravated murder of her 7-year-old daughter Trinity, who survived the 70-foot fall.
Stott-Smith apologized for her crimes at her sentencing, saying: “To all those I’ve hurt, especially my children, I’m deeply sorry.”
Her ex-husband Jason Smith also spoke in court that day to address Stott-Smith’s crimes and the death of his son.
“No explanations for why it happened, no explanations for the thoughts of the murderer who killed my son will ever make sense to anybody,” Smith said.
Portland-based author Nancy Rommelmann documented the case in the nonfiction book “To the Bridge,” which she published in 2018.