Crime & Courts

‘Black widow’ Wasilla mother dies in hospital while incarcerated

Author: Tess Williams Updated: 3 days ago Published 3 days ago

A Wasilla woman accused of coercing her children to have babies and give them to her died Sunday while she was incarcerated.

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A victim described the household O’Shea-Grantham ran as cultlike. O’Shea-Grantham indoctrinated her children into believing they needed to become pregnant and give her the babies, which she then adopted. She kept the children isolated from neighborhood children and they were not allowed to attend public school.

O’Shea-Grantham asked the children to refer to her as a “black widow” and tell others that their fathers had died in plane or car crashes.

She was sentenced in 2018 to six years in prison but had already been in custody five years. She violated probation and was returned to the Department of Corrections in June 2019.

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