Woman Who Apparently Killed Self, Toddler, Was Waukee Graduate: 2012 in Review

Editor's Note:  As the year winds down, Waukee Patch is looking back at some of the stories that made you talk, cry, laugh or just scratch your head. This story originally ran on March 24, 2012.

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A 23-year-old woman who apparently killed her 2-year-old son and then herself over the weekend was a 2007 graduate of Waukee High School.

Kelli Sly, 23, told Indianola police officers who checked on her Saturday that she wasn’t suicidal but that she was frustrated because she didn’t have help taking care of her son, Gavin, and her estranged husband, Tim Sly, hadn’t picked him up for visitation, according to The Des Moines Register.

The next day, both Gavin and the woman were dead.

Melinda Talbott, 18, told The Register she had worked at a Casey’s convenience store with Kelli Sly until a couple of weeks ago.

She spoke with Kelli a couple of days ago and said she seemed distraught, although that wasn’t unusual.

Talbott said Kelli found out Friday that she was being evicted from her apartment in a week.

Kelli Sly’s mother, Sherri Sinclair of Waukee, told KCCI-TV Sunday that her daughter had been struggling with depression.

Sly's husband had contacted police because she had tried to hurt herself before and he worried she would do it again, according to authorities cited by the newspaper.

When polcie went to Sly's apartment, she told told them she was not suicidal but was mad at Tim Sly, the paper reported.

“Kelli said that she doesn’t have any type of support system to help her with Gavin and she felt frustrated by this,” police said in the release.

The newspaper said Sly assured police she wouldn’t hurt herself and would call for help if her feelings changed. Officers also spoke again with Tim Sly and with Kelli Sly’s mother.

Norwalk firefighters and police from Des Moines and Norwalk found Sly’s vehicle crashed into a bridge pillar underneath the Iowa Highway 5 bypass along Iowa Highway 28 yesterday morning. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gavin was found dead at the woman's apartment.

Autopsies were planned for both Slys. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is also investigating.

Indianola police Sgt. Brian Sher said evidence at Kelli Sly’s apartment, which was “very neat and organized,” led police to believe the she had killed her son.

“There was an envelope left and it had several items in it,” he said. “There was no suicide letter.”

December Update: A Family Tragedy: A Mother's Struggle to Help Her Daughter