SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KNXV) — A Valley woman is facing first-degree murder charges after she admitted to murdering her mother Monday afternoon.
According to Sgt. Ben Hoster, dispatchers received a call around 2 p.m. from someone at an apartment complex near 64th Street and Osborn Road saying their neighbor asked them to call 911.
Scottsdale police say Holly Brennan, 46, later told the dispatcher that she had killed her mother, Sharon Simmons. Officers responded and found Simmons deceased in a bed.
Brennan told police she suffocated her mother. Investigators did not immediately know when Simmons had died.
Mike Bennett said he saw Brennan confess to police outside her apartment. “She admitted that she smothered her mother with a pillow,” Bennett said.
“Responding officers then went inside the apartment and located an elderly female deceased on the bed,” Sgt. Hoster said.
“Then they put the cuffs on her and sat her down on the sidewalk,” Bennett said. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It took a couple seconds for it to sink in, and I’m like, ‘Wow she just admitted that!'”
Police say Brennan and Simmons live together and have a history of domestic violence.
Neighbors told KNXV Simmons was beloved in the complex.
“She was a very nice lady. Everybody in the apartment complex just loved her,” Ross Blaisdell said.
“She was a sweet lady. The daughter was a little sketchy,” Bennett said.
Brennan was taken into custody and questioned by detectives, Hoster said.
