Peggy Hilt wanted to be a good mother. But day after day, she got out of bed feeling like a failure. No matter what she tried, she couldn't connect with Nina, the 2-year -old girl she'd adopted from Russia as an infant . The preschooler pulled away whenever Hilt tried to hug or kiss her. Nina was physically aggressive with her 4-year-old sister, who had been adopted from Ukraine, and had violent tantrums . Whenever Hilt wasn't watching, she destroyed the family's furniture and possessions. "Every day with Nina had become a struggle," she recalls now. 

As the girl grew older, things got worse. Hilt fell into a deep depression. She started drinking heavily, something she'd never done before. Ashamed, she hid her problem from everyone, including her husband. 

On the morning of July 1, 2005, Hilt was packing for a family vocation, all the while swallowing one beer after another and growing increasingly angry and impatient with Nina's deeds. "Everything she did just got to me," Hilt said. When Hilt caught her reaching into her diaper and smearing feces on the walls and furniture, "a year and a half of frustration came to a head," Hilt says. "I snapped . I felt this uncontrollable rage." 

Then Hilt did something unthinkable. She grabbed Nina around the neck, shook her and then dropped her to the floor, where she kicked her repeatedly before dragging her up to her room, punching her as they went. "I had never hit a child before," she says. "I felt horrible and promised myself that this would never happen again." But _ . Nina woke up with a fever, and then started throwing up. The next day she stopped breathing. By the time the ambulance got the child to the hospital, she was dead. 

Hilt is now serving a 19-year sentence for second-degree murder in a Virginia prison. She and her husband divorced, and he is raising their other daughter. She realizes the horror of her crime and says she isn't looking for sympathy. "There is no punishment severe enough for what I did," she told NEWSWEEK in an interview at the prison.
Who grabbed Nina by the neck?
And who is she?
How old is her kid?
Is she her biological child?
Did she have any other children?
And their age?
What ilness was the mom suffering from?
Did she abstain from consuming alcohol?
How much would she drink?
What did she catch Nina doing?
Was she fine with that?
What did she say she was feeling about it?
Was Nina ok after being choked?
What ended up happening to her?
And the mom?
What happened with her spouse?
Was she a good mom?
Did she want to be?
What was the date when this happened?
Peggy Hilt
Peggy Hilt 
mother
mother
2-year -old
2-year -old
no
who had been adopted from Ukraine
yes
4-year-old sister
4-year-old
4-year-old
depression
depression
no
She started drinking heavily
heavily
heavily
reaching into her diaper and smearing feces on the walls and furniture
reaching into her diaper and smearing feces on the walls and furniture
no
I snapped 
uncontrollable rage
 uncontrollable rage
no
she was dead
she died
she was dead
Hilt is now serving a 19-year sentence for second-degree murder
Hilt is now serving a 19-year sentence for second-degree murder 
her husband divorced, and he is raising their other daughter.
her husband divorced, and he is raising their other daughter.
no
wanted to be a good mother
yes
Peggy Hilt wanted to be a good mother.
July 1, 2005
July 1, 2005