Samara Spann was sentenced in King County Superior Court to 23 years in prison for the macabre murder of her 6-year-old daughter, Kyeimah, in White Center in 2004.

Prior to sentencing, King County Deputy Prosecutor Kristin Richardson quoted a videotaped statement, in which Spann confessed committing the crime after the girl refused to go to sleep because she thought there were spiders in her room. Spann beat Kyeimah, according to the confession, then sat on the couch wondering why the child had to have so much attention.

After a couple of hours, she told Kyeimah to take a bath. Spann said she filled the bathtub in their White Center home and drowned Kyeimah.

Later, Spann admitted, she beheaded her daughter, saying she was trying to release a demon. After placing the body in a bag, Spann told investigators, she dumped Kyeimah's remains in a Wahkiakum County river. Her body has never been found.

But, Spann admitted, her daughter's body had welts and scars from years of abuse. Defense attorney Scott Carter-Eldred said Spann was also the victim of an abusive childhood. In a letter to the court, Spann said,

"I have hated myself and been really hard on myself ... I have lived with the guilt of taking my daughter's life. My action has shocked my soul to devastation."

The prison sentence is in the middle of the standard range. In addition, she is to have no contact with either of her two other children, a 16-year-old daughter and a younger son, until they are at least 18 years old.