Mom pleads not guilty in 2 kids' deaths

A widowed mother charged with killing her two children and then taking a university counselor hostage at gunpoint alarmed authorities by saying her kids had been "sent to be with their dad," according to a police report.

Gail Lynn Coontz, 37, a University of Louisville student, pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of murder and one count of terroristic threatening. Her bond was set at $500,000.

Dressed in a yellow jail uniform, Coontz rocked in her chair and wiped her face while waiting to be arraigned. Her attorney, public defender Mike Lemke, told Coontz he would speak for her at the arraignment.

"I don't want you to say anything," Lemke told Coontz.

Coontz was arrested Thursday after police found her children, 14-year-old Greg and 10-year-old Nikki, dead in their home. Autopsies confirmed the children died of gunshot wounds, Jo-Ann Farmer, chief deputy coroner, said Friday.

Coontz was taken Thursday to a hospital psychiatric ward after police said she held a counselor hostage at gunpoint at the university. A police report stated that officers went to check on the children after Coontz said the children were "sent to be with their dad," who was known to be dead.

Coontz handed the gun over to the counselor, and no one was harmed at the school, which Coontz had attended since 2006, police said.

Police have not mentioned a motive. Court documents show Coontz sought bankruptcy protection twice since 2004, citing large credit card debt and little income.

Both times, Coontz listed more than $30,000 in credit card debt, along with owing money on her home and van.

Police and neighbors said she had been widowed for several years, and the bankruptcy filings listed her primary income as Social Security benefits.

The 2004 bankruptcy was never completed because Coontz never filed the paperwork to liquidate assets and pay off creditors, records show. That case closed in September 2006.

A message left for Julie Ann O'Bryan, Coontz's bankruptcy attorney, was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

Wendy Helterbran, a spokeswoman for Volunteers of America of Kentucky, said Coontz has worked part-time for the organization for 18 months and was in good standing. Helterbran declined to answer further questions.

Greg Coontz was in eighth grade and Nikki was in fourth grade. Nikki and her family had been involved with Girl Scouts, but the family had not taken part in about a year, said Joe Hall, a spokesman for Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana in Louisville.