A former television news anchor has pleaded guilty to murdering her 80-year-old mother during a grisly Halloween stabbing inside their Kansas home. Angelynn “Angie” Mock, 48, admitted to one count of first-degree murder in the death of Anita Avers. Authorities said Mock believed her mother was the devil and claimed she carried out the fatal attack to “save herself.” She now faces life in prison with eligibility for parole after 25 years.
Mock entered the plea before Sedgwick County District Court Judge Faith Johnson on Friday, August 21st. The killing occurred on the morning of October 31st, 2025, inside the Wichita residence Mock shared with Avers and Mock’s stepfather, Barry Avers. Wichita police were dispatched to the home at approximately 7:52 a.m. after Mock approached a neighbor while covered in blood and asked for help calling 911.
According to reports, the neighbor saw Mock run out of the house with blood on her hands before banging on his truck. The man spoke only Spanish but understood the word “police,” called 911, and handed Mock his phone. Officers arriving at the scene found Mock outside holding a towel, with cuts on her hands and arm. Mock was later treated for six lacerations to her left hand, two to her right hand, and another cut on her inner right arm.
Inside the home, officers encountered a bloody scene. A first responder found a blood-covered cellphone on the kitchen sink, a clean knife on the floor, and a large butcher knife with blood on it in the living room, according to KWCH’s reporting. Police found Avers lying on her back in bed with stab wounds to her head, face, neck, torso, and arms. Several kitchen knives and a cheese grater had reportedly been laid out on a pillow beside her. Avers was taken to a hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead at 8:26 a.m.
Mock gave investigators conflicting descriptions of what happened before the stabbing. She initially claimed she had entered her mother’s bedroom and found Avers sharpening knives before Avers allegedly chased and attacked her. Mock later said she had gone into the bedroom to discuss an upcoming interview for a job at a local television station when her mother began sharpening knives and said she was jealous of Mock and did not want her to get the job. “I had to kill her, she wasn’t going to stop,” Mock told investigators, according to the affidavit. Mock reportedly said at one point that she stabbed first, but later claimed her mother attacked first.
The affidavit described statements indicating that Mock was experiencing delusions surrounding the attack. As Fox News reported, Mock allegedly said she believed Avers was the devil and that she had killed her mother to “save herself.” Barry Avers told investigators that Mock had initially been diagnosed with bipolar disorder before the diagnosis was changed to schizoaffective disorder. He described previous episodes in which Mock claimed people around her were robots or were not real, although he said he had never considered her violent or felt personally threatened by her.
Questions about Mock’s mental condition initially stopped the criminal case from moving forward. Judge Jeffrey Goering found her incompetent to stand trial in January following a court-ordered evaluation, and she was sent to Larned State Hospital for additional evaluation and treatment. A different ruling in July found Mock competent to proceed, clearing the way for the prosecution to resume. According to People, Mock entered her guilty plea approximately one month after that competency finding.
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Mock previously worked as a morning anchor at KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis from 2011 to 2015. Before that, she worked at KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City between 2007 and 2011 and held other reporting positions in Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska. She was working in sales for a data-management software company at the time of her arrest. Under the plea agreement, Mock faces a presumptive life sentence with eligibility for parole after 25 years. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 5th at 11 a.m.