Mother sentenced to life in prison for murder of 2 kids in Santa Ana

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A mother was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday for the 2013 murder of her two children in Santa Ana.

Marilyn Kay Edge pleaded guilty to killing her 13-year-old son Jaelen and 10-year-old daughter Faith in a hotel room after losing a custody battle in Georgia.

Prosecutors said the Arizona woman poisoned and smothered her children before crashing her car in a Costa Mesa parking lot in an attempt to ignite a propane tank and kill herself.

When police arrived, she tried to strangle herself with an electrical cord as officers smashed the car window and pulled her out.

Edge told authorities about her two children who she left at the Hampton Inn & Suites.

When asked by the judge during her first court appearance in 2013 if she would agree to postponing the arraignment hearing to give time for a psychiatric evaluation, she responded, "Only if you promise me the death penalty."

The judge asked her again, and she had the same response. When the judge asked a third time, Edge finally said, "Yes."

Days before the children were killed, a Georgia judge ordered Edge to hand over custody of the children to their father. Instead, she fled to California, where the kids were found.

Why Edge went to California was unclear but court documents showed what was happening over the past several years.

In 2004, Edge sued the federal government alleging her son developed autism after receiving a vaccination. The case was dismissed in March 2012 due to insufficient proof. Six months later, according to court documents, Edge moved her children from Georgia to Scottsdale, Ariz.

After Edge's former husband was granted weekend visitation rights, his attorney said she was not allowed to take the children out of state.

Edge was also ordered to pay nearly $800 a month in child support. The payments were set to begin two weeks after the killings.