KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — 50-year-old Theresa Lynne Petto who was charged with murdering a Portage woman in June of 2015 died in prison. Petto’s death, was reported by MLive on Monday, March 14 .
The former Hastings resident was serving a life sentence for murdering 25-year-old Rachel Drafta.
Petto pleaded guilty but mentally ill during her 2016 trial for shooting and killing Drafta who had been dating her ex-boyfriend at the time, Brent Kik, which police say angered Petto.
Petto had shot Drafta in the driveway of Drafta’s parents’ Portage home on June 24, 2015. Drafta died two days later.
The shooting itself happened four years to the day that Petto’s baby, fathered by her former boyfriend, Kik, was found dead in Petto’s Hastings apartment.
The medical examiner determined the 3-week-old baby had suffered a skull fracture, but Petto had denied causing the injury.
A cause of death for Petto has not been given at this time.
