Mother Of Tulsa Toddlers Who Drowned Enters Guilty Plea For Neglect

The mother of two Tulsa children who went missing and were found drowned in neighboring rivers last summer pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of child endangerment.

Donisha Willis was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder, but Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler says the new charges are a better fit for the case.

“Any time you’re prosecuting a case you have to be able to separate out the emotional impact from what the evidence really is and what the fact really are," Kunzweiler said.

Willis has now been sentenced to ten years in prison.

"We felt like this was an appropriate recommendation," Kunzweiler said. He admits it was a tough call.

"It's a resolution that's not going to make anybody feel good. At the end of the day two children lost their lives."

Related Story: Mother Of Missing Toddlers Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder

Last May, three-year-old Miracle and two-year-old Tony Crook disappeared from the Shoreline Apartments. They were seen on surveillance video wandering toward a river, where they drowned.

"This case it was just gut-wrenching from the very beginning," Kunzweiler said. "You just wanted to not believe these kids could have fallen into those waters and be swept away."

Officers said Willis was found sleeping after the kids disappeared and refused to help find them.

Kunzweiler knows some people would've liked to see the tougher charges stand but he said after seeing all the evidence, the neglect charges make more sense.

"At the end of the day she's going to prison knowing full-well that she neglected her children to the extent that ultimately they died on her watch," Kunzweiler said. "That will be something she will carry with her to her grave."