WICHITA, Kan. (Court TV) — A former news anchor who admitted to killing her mother cried in court as a judge sentenced her to life in prison.
Angelynn Mock, 48, pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Anita Avers, who was killed on Halloween 2025. Officers found Avers stabbed multiple times in her bed, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital. An arrest affidavit said officers found a cheese grater and several knives next to her body.
Angelynn Mock cries as she leaves court on Oct. 5, 2026. (Court TV)
“Shock, disbelief, horror, trauma struck us all last Halloween,” Avers’ stepdaughter said in a victim impact statement to the court during Mock’s sentencing on Monday. “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 Angelynn we thought we knew. So devastating, so calculated, so demonic.”
In an interview with police, Mock said she was defending herself when she stabbed her mother, who had been sharpening knives in bed. Mock claimed that the victim attacked her with a knife, and that she fought her mother off before grabbing a knife of her own.
Before her arrest, Mock worked as a news anchor in St. Louis; her stepfather told investigators that she was fired after an “explosive situation involving alcohol.”
“I believe [Mock] should never see daylight again,” the victim’s granddaughter said in a statement read aloud in court on Monday.
“Angelynn killed the one person who loved her unconditionally, who gave her everything,” Avers’ stepdaughter said. “What’s worse is that Anita had defensive wounds to her arms. She went to her death knowing it was her daughter that slaughtered her. Anita didn’t deserve this.”
Mock cried in court as she listened to the victim impact statements and declined to address the court.
When asked for a sentencing recommendation, a prosecutor said, “The case speaks for itself. It’s a tragic situation. I don’t see any point in belaboring the point. I just simply ask you to follow the law in this matter.”
Judge Jeffrey Goering said Kansas law required him to impose a life sentence with the chance of parole after 25 years. Mock will receive credit for 339 days served, but will not be eligible to earn “good time” to further reduce her sentence.
When Goering advised the defendant of her appellate rights, she said she wanted to put on the record that she did not want to appeal.
