Adam Lee Price: Man found guilty of smothering his 2 children and disguising murders as sleep mishap
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA: A 38-year-old Nebraska man is expected to be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his two young children.
Adam Lee Price was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder by a jury in Sarpy County after over two hours of deliberation.
The tragic events occurred in May 2021 when Price smothered his 5-year-old daughter, Emily Price, and his 3-year-old son, Theodore Price, before arranging their bodies to appear as if they were peacefully sleeping, tucking them back into their beds.
He is expected to receive a life sentence in a state correctional facility without the possibility of parole. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 6, 2024.
Deceased children's mother Mary Nielsen called 911 after not hearing from them
According to Law&Crime, officers from the Bellevue Police Department made visits to Price's home on Alberta Avenue twice on May 15 and again on May 16.
Mary Nielsen, the children's mother, was worried because she hadn't heard from her children for days.
She called 911. Nielsen and Price were divorced, but they shared custody of the children.
They had to stay in touch every day when the children were with the other parent, as the custody agreement said.
Nielsen asked on Facebook if anyone had heard from Price or seen him or the children in the past day. She hadn't heard from him in two days, which worried her. The children were supposed to be with Price in Nebraska for a week.
The police went to Price's house for the third time at 11.30 am on May 16. A neighbor found the children inside after Nielsen asked them to check the unlocked house.
Price wasn't there when the police found the children's bodies. He was later found in Pacifica, California, and taken into custody.
Price was brought back to Nebraska on May 27 and has been in the Sarpy County Jail since then on a $2.5M bond.
After Price was arrested, Nielsen wrote on Facebook that she hopes he would suffer for the rest of his life.
She apologized to her children and herself for what happened.
How did the two young children die?
The Bellevue Police Department caught Price in California a few days after finding the children's bodies in his Bellevue, Nebraska home.
Surveillance video showed Price going to a nearby bank and taking out a lot of money on the day of the murders.
He then went back home briefly before going to California.
After he was arrested, Price admitted to planning and carrying out the murders during a long talk with detectives. The detective asked Price if killing the children was more about him than the children, and Price said yes.
He said it wasn't something he decided to do suddenly. When asked if he would do things differently if he could, Price said he would do it again.
The medical examiner who checked Emily and Theodore's bodies said they died from not being able to breathe properly.
The doctor said it takes a lot of time and effort to kill someone by smothering them. Prosecutors explained that it takes about a minute to make someone unconscious and then another minute or two to kill them by smothering.
