DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman suspected of killing two of her young children during a custody dispute with her ex-husband two years ago has been returned from Britain to the United States to face charges, authorities said Tuesday.
Colorado Springs-based District Attorney Michael Allen announced the extradition of Kimberlee Singler, 37, on charges including two counts of first-degree murder ahead of her first court appearance in the coming days.
Singler was arrested in December 2023 in London just over a week after her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were found dead in their home in Colorado Springs. Her 11-year-old daughter was injured but survived. The girl eventually told an investigator that her mother said God made her do it, according to court documents in the United Kingdom.
Singler, who had superficial knife wounds, told police that a man who entered the apartment was responsible. She was initially considered a victim.
The surviving daughter backed up Singler’s claim at first, but police sought to arrest Singler on Dec. 26, 2023, after they said the girl changed her story. By then Singler was gone. She was found four days later in London’s upscale Chelsea neighborhood and arrested. It is not known why she ended up there.
“Today really is a significant milestone in this criminal investigation,” Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said at a news conference. “Singler is accused of committing an unthinkable act. ... I know these acts have deeply impacted this community, and our hearts remain with the victims."
Allen said Singler will be held without bond at least until a preliminary hearing on whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed toward trial. That hearing typically is scheduled within 30 days of an initial court appearance, with some exceptions, he said.
Allen said the surviving child, now 13, is expected to be a key witness at trial. He otherwise declined to discuss details of the prosecution's case beyond procedural steps.
The FBI and Colorado Springs police traveled to London to take custody of Singler, who fought extradition and denied attacking her children.
Her London defense attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, argued that she should not be extradited because if convicted of first-degree murder in Colorado, she would face a mandatory sentence of life without parole — a sentence that violates European human rights law.
Fitzgerald represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his long fight against extradition to face espionage charges in the U.S.
Singler did not yet have a U.S.-based attorney listed as representing her in court documents, according to the court clerk’s office.
A judge rejected Singler's challenge in January 2025, and her bid for an appeal was denied in November.
Singler also faces one count of attempted murder, three counts of child abuse and one count of assault.
According to U.K. court documents, the children's bodies were found by police shortly after midnight on Dec. 19, 2023. Police said they found no footprints in the snow leading to a patio where Singler said an intruder entered through an unlocked door and attacked her, causing her to lose consciousness.
She told police that her ex-husband “had previously dreamt about killing his family, that the children’s father was always trying to ‘frame her’ and ‘get her arrested’ and to have the kids taken away from her,” Judge John Zani said in a January ruling against Singler in Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Police said GPS records showed that her ex-husband was driving a truck about 80 miles (130 kilometers) away at the time of the killings.
The family had been staying with Singler’s mother during the custody battle, but the mother was away at the time, according to court documents in the U.K.
The day before the bodies were found, a judge in Colorado ordered Singler to comply with a previous order to allow the father to take custody of them for the holidays, according to state court records. She was told to either give the children to her ex-husband on her own or bring them to a court hearing Dec. 20, 2023, to exchange custody there.
On the day of the hearing, Singler asked the judge to delay it, saying in a motion that she and her children had been attacked and two of them were murdered. She asked for time to grieve and “gain my bearings after this incident.”
FILE - Law enforcement respond to a location where children were found dead inside of a condo in the Palomino Ranch Point complex, Dec. 19, 2023, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP, File)
BRISTOL, Pa. (AP) — A thunderous explosion Tuesday at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, collapsed part of the building, sent fire shooting out and left people trapped inside, authorities said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a news conference several hours after the explosion that at least two had been killed after emergency responders braved the flames, a heavy odor of gas and a second explosion to evacuate residents and employees.
Fire officials said they were in “rescue mode” five hours later, with responders still digging by hand and using search dogs, earth-moving equipment and sonar to locate potential victims.
The explosion happened at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak.
A plume of black smoke rose from the nursing home, as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances from across the region rushed there, joined by earthmoving equipment.
Authorities did not identify those who died and did not know the total number of those injured after residents and employees were evacuated to a number of different hospitals.
Shapiro asked his fellow Pennsylvanians to take a moment to pray “for this community, for those who are still missing, for those who are injured, and for those families who are about to celebrate Christmas with an empty chair at their table.”
The town's fire chief, Kevin Dippolito, said at the Tuesday evening news conference that there were five people still unaccounted for, but he cautioned that some may have left the scene with family members.
Dippolito described a chaotic rescue where firefighters found people stuck in stairwells and elevator shafts, and pulled residents out of the fiery building through windows and doors. Two people were rescued from a collapsed section of building, he said.
Firefighters handed off patients to waiting police officers outside, including one “who literally threw two people over his shoulders,” Dippolito said. “It was nothing short of extraordinary.” A second explosion erupted during the rescue, he said.
Bucks County emergency management officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17 p.m. and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed.
Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”
“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” Tye said.
He got up to go look and saw “fire everywhere” and people escaping the building. “Just got to keep praying for them,” Tye said.
Shapiro said a finding that the gas leak caused the explosion was preliminary.
The local gas utility, PECO, said while its crews were responding to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home, an explosion happened. "PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the utility said in a statement.
Investigators from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's went to the scene. Finding that the explosion was caused by a gas leak won’t be confirmed until the agency can examine the scene, a utility commission spokesperson said.
Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant at the facility, told WPVI-TV/ABC 6 that, over the weekend, she and others there smelled gas, but “there was no heat in the room, so we didn’t take it to be anything.”
The 174-bed nursing home is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia. It is newly affiliated with Saber Healthcare Group and had been known until recently as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.
In a statement, Saber called the explosion “devastating.” It said facility personnel had promptly reported a gas smell to PECO before the explosion and that it was working with authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of staff, residents and the community.
The latest state inspection report for the facility was in October and the Pennsylvania Department of Health found that it was not in compliance with several state regulations.
The inspection report said the facility failed to provide an accurate set of floor plans and to properly maintain several stairways, including storing multiple paint buckets and a bed frame under landings.
It also said the facility failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers on one of the three levels and failed to provide the required “smoke barrier partitions,” which are designed to contain smoke on two floors. It also said it didn’t properly store oxygen cylinders on two of three floors.
According to Medicare.gov, the facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “much below average,” with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., and Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report. Levy and Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Emergency personnel work at the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer)
First responders work at the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Montgomery County search and rescue join first responders at the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
CORRECTS NAME OF FACILITY - First responders gather at the scene of an explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
First responders gather at the scene of an explosion at Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol Township, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
First responders are on the scene of a fire after an explosion at a nursing home in Bristol Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)
