Former St. Louis TV Anchor Angelynn Mock Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Her Mother
A former St. Louis morning news anchor will spend at least the next 25 years behind bars after a Kansas judge sentenced her to life in prison for killing her 80-year-old mother.
Angelynn Mock was sentenced in Sedgwick County for the murder of Anita Avers, according to Wichita station KWCH. The judge ruled that Mock will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
The sentence closes a case that began on Halloween morning in 2025 and drew attention far beyond Wichita because of Mock's past career in front of the camera.
Mock had already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in August, so the life term was the punishment expected after that plea.
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What Police Found Inside the Home
The killing happened on October 31, 2025, at the family's home in south Wichita. According to the probable cause affidavit, officers found Avers in her bedroom with multiple stab wounds.
She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and died a short time later. Investigators documented wounds to her head, face and torso.
Officers found Mock outside the home with blood on her hands. A neighbor told investigators she had come out of the house and asked him to call 911. He made the call and then handed her his phone.
When an officer went inside to help Avers, he found knives in several rooms. The affidavit described blood in the home, with the heaviest pooling on the bed where Avers was found.
Shifting Stories and a Claim of Self-Defense
Mock first told investigators she had acted in self-defense. But the affidavit laid out conflicting accounts she gave about the confrontation.
In one version, she said her mother chased her with a knife. Investigators wrote that she later changed her account of who stabbed first.
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Her stepfather, Barry Avers, told police he was at work when the stabbing happened. He said Mock had lived with him and her mother for several years.
He also described a history of mental health problems, telling investigators that Mock had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a diagnosis later revised to schizoaffective disorder. Those statements came from him, not from any court finding about her responsibility for the killing.
He said mother and daughter had been close despite periods of tension, and that he had never felt threatened by Mock before.
A Long Fight Over Competency
Before the case could move forward, the court had to decide whether Mock was fit to stand trial. In January, proceedings were put on hold after a doctor found her unfit, and she was sent to Larned State Hospital for evaluation and treatment.
In July, a Sedgwick County judge reversed that ruling and found she could stand trial. Her guilty plea came the following month. Competency only concerns whether a defendant can take part in court proceedings; it does not change the fact that Mock admitted to murdering her mother.
Mock worked as a morning news anchor at a St. Louis television station from 2011 to 2015. Her former career put the case in the headlines, but at its center is Anita Avers, an 80-year-old woman killed inside her own home. No prison term, however long, can bring her back.