BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) – Admitted killer Sheila LaBarre described having suicidal thoughts from an early age in a videotaped interview introduced by the prosecution Thursday at her insanity trial in New Hampshire.

In the interview with psychologist Albert Drukteinis, taken this winter, LaBarre broke down in tears as she talked about growing up with an abusive father and an unloving mother. She said she tried to kill herself for the first time when she was in third grade.

Drukteinis is expected to testify as the state’s expert psychologist witness next week. He thinks LaBarre was sane when she killed Kenneth Countie in March 2006 and Michael Deloge in the fall of 2005.

LaBarre has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The video interview is expected to be the prosecution’s last major piece of evidence.

LaBarre went into graphic sexual detail in the interview about the various boyfriends she dated as a teenager and in her early 20s. She became emotional when she said she was pressured into having a late-term abortion by a high school boyfriend.

She recounted a number of altercations with her volatile father that were similar to stories told by her sister, Lynn Noojin, on the stand at the beginning of the trial. LaBarre said her father once chased the family with an ax and often went into rages, threatening to kill the children.

She also talked about being sexually abused. She recently remembered the abuse after her sister confessed she had been sexually abused by their father as a child.

Soon after high school, LaBarre married Ronnie Jennings, a man LaBarre characterized as cruel and abusive.

LaBarre again broke into tears when telling the story of how Jennings killed her pet kitten by stepping on it and then crushing it with a rock. Throughout the trial, the jury has heard testimony about how much LaBarre loved animals. LaBarre often imagined men were harming her pets when they were not.

LaBarre said she attempted suicide after learning Jennings was cheating on her and refused to divorce her. In retaliation, she took a handful of pills, washed them down with Jenning’s whiskey and drove off in his car.

She said, “everything turned gold” as she was driving and, “it seemed I was entering a different dimension.” She said she doesn’t know what happened but knows now she ran off the road and was in a coma for eight days.

In previous testimony from Noojin and the defense’s psychologists, LaBarre said she had died and gone to heaven while in her coma. She claimed she was told by God she was to return as an angel because she had a mission to complete.

on Earth.

She also made claims of abuse while in the hospital after her accident.

LaBarre didn’t mention this or the heavenly encounter to Drukteinis.


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