PHOTO: Ozark County Times
Angela Plemmons is escorted from the courthouse in 2012 by former Ozark County Sheriff Raymond Pace and Jailer Robert Hathcock.
An Ozark County woman who has been in the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health for five years, after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing death of former Theodosia resident Fred Wiggins, could potentially be released in the near future.
The Ozark County Times reports, the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington has filed an application to release Angela K. Plemmons, who was originally charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action after she allegedly stabbed 73-year-old Wiggins six times with a long-bladed kitchen knife in July 2012. Wiggins was the father of former Ozark County Sheriffs Deputy Lee Bearden.
Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant has filed his objection to the mental health centers motion for release, and a hearing will be set before Circuit Judge Craig Carter.
Bearden told the Times he and other family members plan to attend the hearing when it is scheduled, and he hopes to be able to give a statement opposing Plemmons release.
Bearden said we do not believe she should be released. If released, we believe she will return to her old habits and do the same thing to someone else.
Shortly after the charges were filed in 2012, Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed, who was chief deputy for Sheriff Raymond Pace at the time, told the Times Plemmons lived in a separate home on the Wiggins property and was arrested at the residence without a struggle. Plemmons was reportedly sitting on the sofa watching Wiggins bleed from the gashes she had inflicted when law enforcement officers arrived at the scene. Wiggins was alert and able to talk with emergency responders but died later that afternoon at a Springfield hospital.
Bearden told the Times shortly after the murder his dad was known to help those in need, and Plemmons, who was a distant cousin on his mothers side, was one of the people he helped.
Bearden said, “She didnt have anything, no place to go, so he took her in and let her live in that place of his. He made sure she got to her doctor appointments and let her work for him cleaning or washing dishes and doing yardwork to earn her keep. Bearden clarified he is Wiggins full-blooded son despite having a different last name.
Beardens brother, Anthony Wiggins, also of Tecumseh, called him to let him know what had happened that July 2012 night. Bearden immediately called his dads house.
Bearden said, “I talked to Dad and asked him how bad he was hurt. Hes always been a very calm individual. He said, Im hurting, but I think Ill be all right. I think she hit some ribs. I asked him where she was, and he said, Shes still sitting there on the couch.
In the background, Bearden said he could hear Plemmons yabbering away.
He got there in time to help emergency responders carry his dad to the waiting ambulance, which took him to the helicopter landing zone for the flight to Springfield.
called and said he had passed, Bearden said. And then it was a whole different crime.
During Plemmons original arraignment hearing, she reportedly asked the judge what she was being charged with. When he told her first degree murder, she shouted, Why am I being charged with that? He aint dead! He aint dead!
During a June 28, 2013, hearing before Circuit Judge Craig Carter, former Prosecuting Attorney Tom Cline told the court he had personally witnessed strange behavior on multiple occasions from Plemmons throughout his lengthy career in law enforcement and prosecution. Cline said most recently while incarcerated after the murder of Wiggins, Plemmons painted her jail cell with her own feces, carried on multiple conversations with herself, assaulted personnel and threatened other prisoners.
Defense attorney Linda McKinney told the judge that Plemmons has also had a history of psychotic events including extended psychiatric hospital stays since the year 2000.
Carter accepted Plemmons plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and released her into the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. After the court hearing, Plemmons was transferred to the Fulton State Hospital, where she was committed to a confined, lock-down unit and was scheduled to undergo several different types of therapy and treatment.
Garrabrant told the Times last week the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center now holds the burden of proof to show to the court that it is convincingly and clearly evident Plemmons is no longer a threat to herself or others. If the court grants her a conditional release, she will reportedly be confined to a residential facility in Marble Hill, Missouri, for at least one year. At the end of the year, she would then be able to apply for an unconditional release to the public. To be considered for the unconditional release, she would need to be medication compliant, have no alcohol and be seeking employment, among other conditions.
Angela Plemmons
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