A British Columbia woman who was convicted of murdering her eight-year-old daughter has been found dead in prison.
Correctional Service Canada says Lisa Batstone, who was serving an indeterminate life sentence for suffocating her sleeping child with a plastic bag in 2014, died in custody on Monday.
It says Batstone, who began her sentence in 2019, died in the Fraser Valley Institution and her next of kin have been notified.
The correctional service says it will inform police and the coroner, and will review the circumstances of Batstone's death.
Batstone lost an appeal against her conviction for the second-degree murder of her daughter Teagan in 2022.
The Appeal Court ruling says Batstone never came to terms with the breakdown of her marriage to Teagan's father, and intended to kill herself and did not want to leave her daughter with him.
She was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of at least 15 years, a sentence upheld on appeal.
Chris Szafron, assistant warden for management services at the Fraser Valley Institution, said the prison was unable to provide details about how Batstone died.
The Appeal Court ruling says that before killing Teagan, Batstone had been "a loving and devoted mother," with no criminal record or history of violence.
It says that after the murder on Dec. 10, 2014, Batstone left a note accusing her ex-husband of mental and emotional abuse, saying she feared that if Teagan lived "her dad would then betray her too.”
She planned to kill herself and loaded Teagan's body into the trunk of her car, the ruling says.
But the car got stuck in a ditch, prompting Batstone to go to a nearby home seeking help.
A resident called 911 and first responders arrived to find Batstone cradling Teagan's body and sobbing, with a superficial wound to her own neck. A large knife was found in the car.
The original trial judge rejected Batstone's defences relating to intoxication, mental disorder, and a combination of the two.
Aggravating factors included that the murder was not impulsive, requiring thought-out actions including choosing a heavier bag to smother Teagan’s airways, a process that took four to five minutes.
Batstone killed the girl “for completely selfish reasons," Justice Catherine Murray ruled in the original trial.
"She wanted to kill herself and did not want (her ex-husband) to have Teagan."
The father of says "a significant burden" was lifted from the family after finding out the woman died in a B-C prison this week.
Gabe Batstone says Lisa Batstone's death does not erase the pain of losing his eight-year-old daughter, Teagan, but it does mean his family no longer have to face the prospect of her release.
Correctional Service Canada says the woman, who was serving a life sentence for suffocating her sleeping child with a plastic bag in December 2014, died in custody in the Fraser Valley Institution on Monday.
It says it is reviewing the circumstances of the death.
A B-C Supreme Court judge found that Lisa Batstone intended to smother her daughter before killing herself, but could not follow through with the suicide.
Gabe Batstone says the legal and parole processes have had a repeated impact on the family and the death of the convicted killer brings no cause for mourning.
