Mother moved to jail after funeral of two children

Monday, Sept. 29, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

A few hours after her two children were buried Sunday, Sylvia Ewing was moved into the Clark County Detention Center, charged in their baseball bat-beating deaths.

Ewing, 39, faces two counts of murder with a deadly weapon. She was transferred from University Medical Center into the jail at 6:20 p.m. on Sunday, a detention center spokesman said late Sunday.

Metro Police had been waiting for Ewing to sufficiently recover from injuries she received when she stepped in front of a tractor-trailer on Tuesday in an apparent suicide attempt after allegedly bludgeoning her children, Phillip, 8, and Julie, 4.

Funeral services for the children were held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 6220 N. Jones Blvd. Palm Mortuary handled the arrangements.

Ewing was "booked in absentia" on Thursday, Metro Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

That means that Ewing was placed in a jail ward at University Medical Center where she was taken after the accident in critical condition, Metro Lt. Richard Collins said. A guard was posted at all times outside her room.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said last week that Ewing's alleged actions made her eligible for the death penalty because the victims are under 14 years old and because there is more than one victim.

The district attorney's office has a six-person panel, including Roger, the assistant district attorney and law enforcement leaders, which meets to consider whether the death penalty will be sought at trial.

Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy confirmed on Thursday that the children were both killed by multiple blows to the head.

The deaths were both "immediate or close to it," Murphy said. Police had said that the children did not appear to have had any warning of the attack. Evidence does not indicate they tried to flee, fight back or protect themselves.