TUALATIN, Ore. — A Tualatin mother who was convicted in 2010 for throwing her children off the Sellwood Bridge in 2009 has died while serving out her life sentence.
Amanda Stott-Smith, 45, died Sunday morning at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The family of Stott-Smith has been notified and the Medical Examiner will be determining the cause of death.
There were no specific details released regarding how she died.
Stott-Smith has been in custody since April 23, 2010, after she was accused and later pled guilty in the drowning death of her 4-year-old son and the attempted murder of her 7-year-old daughter.
At the time she faced five counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, and one of assault.
She threw her two children from the bridge in Southwest Portland into the Willamette River in the early morning hours of May 23, 2009.
The children were pulled from the river about a half mile downstream from the bridge by nearby residents who heard the daughter screaming in the darkness and jumped in their boat to investigate.
They were brought to the docks of the Oregon Yacht Club. The boy was dead and his sister was rushed to an area hospital for treatment at the time.
Stott-Smith was found a few hours later threatening to commit suicide in a downtown Portland parking garage. She was arrested and held without bail.
Slott-Smith had recently filed for separation from the children's father, Jason Smith, in 2009. Her estranged husband had gained custody of the children and Stott-Smith, against her pleas, was only able to visit them every other weekend.
Without a plea arrangement she could have faced the death penalty, according to Oregon statute.
In 2011, KGW reported that Stott-Smith's daughter went back to the bridge to honor the brother she lost.
"I just said to him that I miss him so much and I love him and... you know... that he was the best thing to ever happen to me," the young girl said to KGW at the time.
The children's father said at the time to KGW that his daughter had come a long way in the past two years. He said she was doing great in school, loved sports, and had developed a deep passion for animals. But, he added, she still talked about her little brother every day.