Mom charged in botched murder-suicide of daughter

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A West Jordan woman who says she made a suicide pact with her 18-year-old daughter before killing her has been charged with murder.

Prosecutors filed the charge Thursday against 52-year-old Mary Ethyl Hansen in the March 22 death of Virginia Ray Hansen.

Police say a neighbor called 911 after Mary Hansen came to the neighbor's house and said she shot her daughter. When police arrived, they found the mother with a gunshot wound to her head and the daughter's body in the home.

The mother survived the attempted suicide. She told officials that she and her daughter suffered mental illness and wanted to die.

Mary Hansen has been booked into the Salt Lake County jail. It's not clear whether she has an attorney.

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