A Baxter County woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after she pled guilty in the stabbing death of a 72-year-old friend of her family.
Mountain Home radio outlet KTLO reports Amber Lea Runau, 23, of Gassville, made the plea to a reduced charge of second-degree murder of Sharon Gayle Adler in Baxter County Circuit Court on Monday.
According to KTLO, Adler was reported to have been the longtime family friend and former babysitter for Runau and her older sister, Anna.
On Aug. 17, 2020, authorities say Amber Runau called 911 and told them she had stabbed Adler in the heart with a large kitchen knife. The KTLO report says when Runau made the call, she was reported to have said she became upset when she could not fix a picture frame and took out her anger on Adler.
Runau’s arrest affidavit said when officers arrived on the scene, she told them her story of stabbing the victim in a “very matter of fact manner,” and further added she watched the eyes of Adler as she died. The affidavit reported Adler was found deceased, sitting in a recliner with a knife protruding from her upper left chest.
KTLO’s report also notes Amber Runau’s older sister, Anna, is currently an inmate in the state prison at Newport serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder. In May 2016, the station said Anna Runau pled no contest to charges she lured a Salem man to Lake Norfork where she is reported to have stabbed him seven times.
To read the report from KTLO, click here.
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