The murder of a child at the hands of a parent is unfathomable. Tragically, it happens more often than most would like to think. And recently, a Georgia mom was sentenced after stabbing her 13-month-old daughter to death.
Chloe Alexis Driver, 24, was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children, and aggravated assault (among other charges) in November 2024. The charges stemmed from the 2020 stabbing death of her toddler daughter, Hannah Nicole Driver. Now, Driver has finally learned her fate.
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On December 8, 2020, Driver stabbed her daughter and herself.
On December 8, 2020, the Canton Police Department responded to a home in Canton and found Driver and Hannah suffering from stab wounds, WTVC reported. The toddler later died at a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, Driver locked herself in a bedroom shortly after officers arrived. She stabbed herself and was listed as in serious condition at a hospital. When she was discharged, police arrested her.
Driver claimed she killed the toddler so she could be with her polygamist husband.
During Driver’s trial, prosecutors claimed that she killed Hannah because she wanted to be with her “polygamist” husband, People reported. He reportedly had two other wives.
“She wanted to be with him and he was never going to give up his polygamist cult lifestyle that they had adopted,” prosecutors alleged.
Additionally, prosecutors alleged the polygamist group had “radical views” and followed “alternative” healing methods, including “drinking their own urine.”
The Georgia mom was sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of her 13-month-old daughter.
On December 12, Driver was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. She was also sentenced to 20 years, served concurrently, because of Hannah’s age, People reported. According to Georgia law, Driver must serve 30 years of her life sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
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During sentencing, the judge called her actions a 'heinous offense.'
Cherokee County Chief Superior Court Judge Ellen McElyea called Driver’s crime “a heinous offense.” She described the evidence as “so graphic and so traumatic that I began to do research on what kind of support and help we could give the jurors who were having to consider it.”
“A parent killing a child is something that just offends us on the deepest level,” McElyea continued. “It is a wrong that just is unfathomable. It just cannot be understood and it scares us because it is so contrary to just fundamental moral behavior and what we expect of the bonds between human beings.”
Driver expressed remorse during sentencing while maintaining her insanity plea.
Driver previously pleaded insanity, which she maintained during sentencing.
“Though I may not legally meet the definition of insanity as of today, I know in the bottom of my heart that I was because I never would have done what I did had it not been for my decompensation,” she said. “In the end, we can’t go back and undo the bad no matter how much we want to, but we can learn from it and prevent it from happening again. I will continue to seek help for my mental illness because of this.”
Later, she shared, “I am terribly sorry for many things in my life but most of all for who was lost, and I always will be. Every single day I live with my guilt.”
