After woman allegedly murdered father, she fled ‘like a bat out of hell,’ according to witness
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REXBURG — A woman accused of killing her father appeared in court for the first time Thursday afternoon after initially being found mentally unfit to move forward with court proceedings.
Jessica Conser was committed to a mental health facility in July but medical professionals found her well enough to be released two weeks ago.
“The doctors said she was fit to stand trial,” Madison County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Wood says.
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Conser is charged with first-degree murder and a weapon enhancement after allegedly shooting and killing her father, Matthew Travao, at his home on the evening of June 5. After the shooting, Conser fled the scene in her truck and was found near the Idaho-Montana border where she was taken into custody.
During a preliminary hearing Thursday, prosecutors had to provide sufficient evidence to fully charge Conser and bind her over to District Court for further proceedings.
Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Sid Brown called six witnesses to the stand and submitted several evidence exhibits.
“Right before Jessica hit the threshold of the door she either said, ‘I shot him’ or ‘I killed him,'” a woman who witnessed the shooting testified. “There was a big hole in his left eye.”
The witness spoke with emotion and tear-filled eyes as she expressed finding Travao after hearing a gunshot. She stated that Conser’s children were also present, and when the witness found Travao on the couch slumped over, she didn’t immediately notice the wound in his eye.
She testified that Conser’s daughter was standing behind them and saw her grandfather badly injured. The young girl asked, “Why did Mama shoot Papa?”
Brown asked the witness how Conser fled the scene and she stated, “A bat out of hell. That’s all I can say.”
The witness said that prior to the crime, Conser seemed stressed and that she and her father made a mutual agreement that he would take her kids from her Montana home to live in Rexburg.
The witness said Conser had a habit of yelling at her father, and she would especially get upset if she didn’t get her way.
“She always got her way,” the witness said.
Despite that, the witness testified that the shooting seemed very out of character for Conser and that before Travao was killed, he was very worried and concerned for his daughter.
A detective testified that when he initially interviewed Conser on the night of the murder, she confessed coming to Rexburg to kill her father. She told the detective that she believed Travao killed her daughter despite the fact her daughter is alive. She told investigators she believed her daughter was murdered because her father and pastor were communicating to her through her mind.
“She had received information… telepathically from not only her father himself, but… her pastor in Butte, Montana,” the detective said.
In addition to claiming telepathic messages, the detective confirmed that Conser believed she was having flashbacks of sexual and physical abuse by family members. She told detectives she was self-medicating for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by using Cannabidiol (CBD) oil.
“When that information was given to (the pastor), he was very surprised,” the detective said.
After witness testimony and all evidence was presented, Magistrate Judge Mark S. Rammell found there was sufficient evidence to bind Conser to District Court for a jury trial.
Her arraignment is set for October 15 and she could face life in prison after the Madison County Prosector determined he would not seek the death penalty.