Police: Mom said she was going to kill her three children so they could meet Jesus

Erika Wurst

ewurst@stmedianetwork.com

A Montgomery woman accused of trying to kill her three children told police she was sending her daughters to meet Jesus Christ, according to court records.

The children were dressed all in white when Montgomery police arrived at the family’s Patron Lane home at around 10: 20 a.m. Sept. 25, after dispatchers received two hang-up 911 calls.

When they arrived, police said Pamela J. Christensen, 47, answered the door wearing a white shirt covered in blood. She got down on her knees before police and told them she had tried to kill her children.

The girls were upstairs, and two had suffered stab wounds to the chest. According to Kendall County Court records, Christensen had also stabbed herself in the chest and abdomen.

Pamela Christensen, 47, was transported to Presence Mercy Medical Center in Aurora. She was not taken into custody and charged until Wednesday, after she was released. She faces three counts each of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint — all felonies, police said in a statement. Her bail was set at $1 million on Thursday. She is next scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16.

In an affidavit to secure a search warrant for the family’s home, police said Christensen told officers that she was sending the girls home to “meet Jesus Christ.”

The three girls, ages 12, 16 and 19, told police that their mother held a knife to them and asked them if they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Two of the girls were stabbed.

Police recovered a poisonous liquid in the home’s kitchen, which Christensen said she had concocted out of dishwashing detergent in an attempt to subdue her children.

She told police she had hoped they would fall asleep so she could stab them. Police said the children refused to ingest the poison.

On the scene, police said they found a cell phone which belonged to Christensen. The woman told officers that her husband, Vaughn Christensen, had left messages on the phone telling his wife that the world was ending, and that she needed to prepare the family to meet Jesus.

Vaughn Christensen is a former pastor at a Sugar Grove church.

The three girls were taken to an area hospital for treatment, and released with minor injuries.

Montgomery Police Chief Daniel Meyers said the children are now in the custody of Christensen’s father, because it “was determined by the court” to be “ the best place for the kids at this time.”

A month prior to the stabbings, Christensen had filed an order of protection against her husband, which was granted. The order was to be in effect until the end of October. According to records filed by Pamela Christensen, the two were going through a divorce, and Vaughn Christensen had become increasingly violent toward her and the children.

The order, filed on Aug. 29, stated Vaughn Christensen had become “increasingly erratic” over the last seven months, and had threatened to harm himself and the kids.He mentioned wanting to die on several occasions, she wrote.

Police said they had been called to the home within the last year for several suicidal incidents.

Pamela Christensen wrote that her husband had kept her from leaving the home on numerous occasions, and on Aug. 25, she moved to her father’s Naperville home to escape her husband.

Robin Domalewski, who lives next door to the Christensens, called her neighbors “so quiet and reserved,” adding that the incident was “baffling to me.”

She and husband Eric Domalewskis said the Christensen children were home-schooled, and were rarely seen without their mother.

“They were always together,” Robin said. “I never heard anything out of that house.”

Robin said she had spoken with Pamela Christensen on several occasions, and the woman had mentioned being ill.

“She appeared very scared,” Robin said.