Insets, from left: Angelynn Mock (KTVI) and Anita Avers (Smith Family Funeral Home). Background: Mock after she was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Avers, her mother, in Kansas (Law&Crime).
A former TV news anchor is headed to prison for decades for stabbing her 80-year-old mother to death in her bed at their Kansas home.
Angelynn Mock, 48, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the death of Anita Avers in Wichita. Mock pleaded guilty in August to first-degree murder.
Avers” stepdaughter Sonja Kreutziger told the court that the victim was a “bright, compassionate loving woman that wanted to make every moment a moment of beauty.”
“There used to be so much joy in my heart because of her,” Kreutziger said. “Shock, disbelief, horror, trauma struck us all last Halloween. The person I knew as gentle, kind Angie, did not just murder her mom. She ambushed Anita while Anita was in bed asleep. This was so out of character for the Angie we thought we knew. So devastating, so calculated, so demonic.”
Kreutziger said her stepmom had defensive wounds on her arms, which meant she woke during the attack.
“She went to her death knowing that it was her daughter that slaughtered her,” she said.
Family also spoke about how Halloween — a holiday they all once celebrated with joy — will never be the same.
“There will be no more dressing up or carving jack-o’-lanterns or handing out candy,” her niece said. “How do you celebrate the worst day of your life? One minute I’m competing in a costume contest, and the next, none of it matters. Walking around the store this time of year and seeing all the decor just reminds me of that day.”
Mock, a morning anchor for KTVI, the Fox station in St. Louis, from 2011 to 2015, wept during the hearing and declined to address the court.
Cops responded shortly before 8 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2025, to a home in the 1500 block of East Crowley. Mock, covered in blood, was standing outside the home when officers arrived. When they went into the home, they found Avers unresponsive in her bed with “multiple stab wounds.” She was taken to the hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead.
A probable cause arrest affidavit said there was blood throughout the home. Several knives and a cheese grater were on a pillow next to the victim’s body.
Mock told cops she went to talk with her mother about a potential job and found her sharpening knives in bed. The defendant said her mother came at her with a knife, saying “I know you’re f—ing Jesus Christ,” according to the affidavit. Mock claimed she fought her mother off and went to grab a knife of her own.
“Angelynn said her mother ‘started spewing venom at me out of her f—ing mouth,’ so she had to stab her to save herself,” cops wrote.
The defendant gave inconsistent accounts of who attacked whom first, detectives noted. She told investigators she wanted to speak to an attorney, so the interview concluded. She had several lacerations on her hand and was treated at a hospital.
Investigators spoke with Avers’ husband and Mock’s stepfather, who was at work at the time of the incident. He detailed Mock’s mental health struggles, saying she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which involves schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms. She had previously spent time in a mental hospital, he said. Mock also would sometimes be in a delusional state, saying “they’re all robots” and “they’re not real people,” per the affidavit.
Mock’s stepdad told police she lost her job at a local news station where she was an anchor after an “explosive situation involving alcohol.” He described Mock’s relationship with her mother as “back-and-forth,” but the two were close. The defendant was taking her medication, as far as he knew.
The stepdad recounted the night before the slaying, saying there was nothing out of the ordinary. He said his wife was in bed when he left for work.
While in custody, Mock apparently called her mom the devil in several statements she made to herself.
“I’d kill that b— to have my mom back any day,” she allegedly said. “I don’t even know who she is anymore. I know, I believe she is the devil.”
Local ABC affiliate KAKE obtained audio of 911 dispatchers saying Mock claimed self-defense.
“Calling party stabbed the mother to save herself,” dispatchers reportedly said.
KAKE spoke with a neighbor who said Mock came running up to her and her boyfriend when they were in their car.
“There was a woman who approached our vehicle with like blood, like her hands were filled, her body was filled with blood, asking to call 911,” Alyssa Castro told the TV station.
Mock begged Castro’s boyfriend for his phone to call 911. When he gave it to her, she ran back into the home, Castro said.
“I asked her if she was OK, and she was pretty shaken up and she seemed scared, and she just ran off,” Castro said.
The defendant has had competency issues since her arrest.
Judge Jeff Goering deemed Mock incompetent to proceed to trial in January and ordered that Mock be hospitalized for restoration of competency. Based on a doctor’s most recent report, Goering in July declared Mock competent to proceed with the case.
Avers was a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist with some 20 years of experience, according to Wichita Counseling Professionals.
“She specializes in treating adults experiencing depression, anxiety spectrum disorders, trauma, and mood disorders, as well as relationship issues, including couples and marriages, family conflict, infidelity and divorce,” her biography said.
