HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) -- A Hanover mother admitted to deputies that she tried to kill her son with an axe and when that didn’t work, she drugged him and set a fire in his bedroom and her bedroom to attempt to kill him.
Deputies arrested Kimberly Shepperson on Saturday for aggravated malicious wounding and arson. Investigators said the morning of Feb. 21, Shepperson attacked her 11-year-old son with an axe and set fires in their Bultaco Trail home.
According to a search warrant filed Feb. 25, Shepperson told investigators she tried to kill her son with the axe. The child did not die. After the attack, she said she gave her son a prescription sleeping drug called Temazepam. After she gave him the drug, she said she hid the axe under her bed and set two fires inside the home in the hopes of killing the boy.
She said she set one fire in her bedroom using diapers and a second fire in the child's room using a shirt and paper. Investigators said they found a chair under a smoke alarm outside the child's bedroom. They said the alarm's wires were exposed.
After setting the fires, Shepperson said she gathered two of her other children, called 911 and escaped the burning house. A Hanover Sheriff's Deputy arrived at the home and rescued the 11-year-old boy.
In a press released sent over the weekend, Investigators said Shepperson set the fires to kill all her children and herself.
The 11-year-old child is recovering from his injuries at the hospital. Her seven year old and 10 month old children are in the care of family members.
During a Monday court hearing, the court appointed Shepperson an attorney. She is being held at Pamunkey Regional Jail until her next court hearing scheduled for April.
