Whisper Hawkbear entered a guilty plea March 7 in district court for the death of her two-month-old son.
Hawkbear reached a plea agreement with the Cascade County Attorney’s Office in which she agreed to plead guilty to the deliberate homicide charge and prosecutors would drop the felony assault charge for the injuries she caused to her 16-month old daughter in April 2023.
County prosecutors did not make a sentencing recommendation, but are free to advise the court of any mitigating or aggravating factors during the sentencing hearing, which has not yet been set.
During the March 7 hearing, Judge John Parker ordered a pre-sentence investigation be completed by April 18, and he would set sentencing once that was completed and all parties had time to review the report.
Sam Martin, Hawkbear’s attorney, asked “did you essentially cause the death of your child,” in April 2023, to which Hawkbear replied, “yes, I did,” and that it was disciplinary actions that went to far.
Kory Larsen of the Cascade County Attorney’s Office asked Hawkbear if she engaged in a series of assaults that lead to her son’s death, to which she responded, “yes.”
Parker said it was clear that Hawkbear understood the seriousness of the charges, potential punishment and the rights she was waived to a trial by entering the guilty plea.
Under state statute, a deliberate homicide conviction is punishable by death, by life imprisonment, or by imprisonment of not less than 10 years or more than 100 years.
In a separate case filed by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, Hawkbear’s parental rights were terminated for her 16-month-old daughter, who is now in foster care and has physically recovered from her injuries, according to Josh Racki, Cascade County attorney.
CCSO releases autopsy results for infant’s death
In April 2023, Sheriff Jesse Slaughter released the autopsy results for Ezekiel Contreras, the two-month-old infant.
Slaughter said that the autopsy determined that the cause of death was blunt force injuries and the manner of death was homicide.
Woman charged in death of one child, assault of another
The Great Falls Police Department responded to a welfare check at an apartment at 2215 23rd Ave. S. at 4:15 a.m. on April 21, 2023.
A welfare check had been called around 2:30 a.m. but Hawkbear told dispatchers she would go to the hospital and the call was canceled, according to court charging documents.
When officers responded to the second call, during which Hawkbear told dispatchers that she had killed her kids, she initially wouldn’t let them into the apartment, according to charging documents.
Once she let them into the apartment, she handed a two-month-old baby to one of the officers, according to court documents.
Blood was coming from the infant’s face and officers started CPR on the baby, according to court documents.
Hawkbear reportedly said, “I just beat him up for like five seconds, he’s dead isn’t he,” according to charging documents.
A 16-month-old child was crying in the bedroom and had blood on her face and a laceration to her nose, according to court documents.
Medical staff arrived and said she also had a burn on her left leg above the knee and a possible head injury. There was blood on the bedroom carpet, a broken mirror and blood on the bed, as well as what appeared to be drug paraphernalia in the apartment, according to charging documents.
The two-month-old was transported to the Benefis Health System emergency department where he was pronounced dead at 5:17 a.m., according to charging documents.
During the investigation, officers learned the children’s father was out of state and had called in a welfare check on April 19 stating Hawkbear had been using drugs and he was concerned about her ability to care for the children, according to court documents.
Hawkbear was taken to the GFPD for an interview during which she told investigators that she had called dispatch around 2:30 a.m. because she has PTSD and anxiety and she wanted to sleep but the children wouldn’t stop crying, according to charging documents.
Police said that Hawkbear told investigators that she had thrown the two-month-old into a wall, hit him with a playpen and stomped on his head, and threw the 16-month-old against a wall and into a mirror, according to charging documents.
During the interview, she told investigators she had been planning on killing both her kids and herself since February 2023, according to the police report.
Hawkbear told investigators that she knew the two-month-old was dead and put him under the bed.
The children stopped crying and Hawkbear went to sleep, according to court documents. She woke up around 4:15 a.m., found the two-month-old and called 911, according to court documents.
Hawkbear has remained in the Cascade County Adult Detention Center on a $500,000 bond since her April 2023 arrest.
For anyone in need of support, Toby’s House is a local crisis nursery providing urgent or emergency care for children ages 0-6 for a few hours, or all day, at no cost to families.
The facility is located at 421 5th St. N. and be reached at 406-770-3191 or director@tobyshousemt.org.
