'Captain America' actress Mollie Fitzgerald accused of killing her mom by stabbing her four times claims 'self-defense'
Actress Mollie Fitzgerald, accused of murdering her mother, claimed in court that her motive for killing the victim was "self defense" after her mom came at her with a knife. The actress, who played 'Stark Girl' in the 2011 Marvel movie ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, was charged with fatally stabbing Patricia 'Tee' Fitzgerald, 68, at her home in Olathe, Kansas on December 20.
According to court records, the suspect told police and 911 dispatchers that she stabbed her mother four times after the latter attacked her and tried to kill her. She added that she hit her mother with a part of a vacuum cleaner to disarm her. After the knife fell from her hands, she picked it up and stabbed her with it, Daily Mail reported.
The autopsy report of the victim, however, found that she had suffered "defensive injuries." It also found no evidence that Patricia had ever been in control of the knife. Instead the report said that there was bruising on her face and neck that was consistent with being choked. She had also suffered multiple wounds on her hands, including one that almost severed her thumb, before her death.
When the police arrived at the scene, they found Patricia with a knife stuck in her back. "(Fitzgerald) said her mother just would not stop trying to take the knife to kill her, so she had to kill her mom," the arrest affidavit said.
There were signs of a struggle inside the home, found by the investigators, including an overturned chair and a broken lamp. Mollie, who was still at the scene when the police arrived, had cuts on the palms of her hands and a bite mark on her bicep and was transported to the hospital for treatment of her minor injuries.
The actress currently faces second-degree murder charges. Following her arrest, Fitzgerald was jailed on a $500,000 bond.
Meanwhile, the accused's father said that the behavior of his daughter had become increasingly aggressive over the days leading up to his wife's death and that to de-escalate arguments, the couple would often leave the room. He also did not believe that his wife would ever try to attack Mollie because of their size difference.