A former Fox morning show anchor in Missouri, Angelynn Mock, 47, has been accused of killing her elderly mother, Anita Avers, 80, on Halloween. Residents of a quiet Wichita, Kansas, neighborhood were shocked when Mock appeared outside her home just before 8 a.m., covered in blood. Neighbor Alyssa Castro recalled Mock approaching their vehicle, her hands and body soaked, asking them to call 911. Mock then returned to her home and reportedly told dispatchers she had “stabbed [her] mother to save herself.” Authorities found Mock outside with serious cuts on her hands, while Avers was discovered unresponsive in her bed with multiple stab wounds. She later died at a nearby hospital. Mock was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder, with a $1 million bond set at Sedgwick County Jail.
The relationship between mother and daughter had appeared happy on social media, with Avers’s Facebook profile featuring images of Mock reporting live on air and photos of the two hugging and smiling. Mock previously worked as a fill-in anchor for KTVI Fox 2 in St. Louis from 2011 to 2015 before transitioning into sales and later joining a Midwest-based data management company with operations in Wichita. Avers worked as a marriage and family therapist at Wichita Counseling Professionals. Neighbors expressed relief that they could help by calling 911, though the motive for the alleged crime remains unclear. Details about Mock’s initial court appearance have not yet been released.
In unrelated news, Missouri made headlines last week after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal seeking to reinstate a Republican-backed law that would block enforcement of certain federal gun regulations. Known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, the 2021 law aimed to prevent state and local officials from enforcing federal firearms restrictions. Lower courts had ruled the law unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law overrides conflicting state statutes. The Justice Department, under President Biden, sued Missouri, arguing the measure violated federal authority, and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case left the lower court ruling intact.
