and I was not. And the only way for her to get into heaven wag if I offered her."

Downey picked Jessica up at school on the day of the slaying, telling school officials she was going to take her four- wheeling.

She stopped the truck in the desert and discussed God with her daughter.

"We sat there and prayed and read the Bible," she said. "Then we got out and and we walked, and then I offered her to God."

Downey told police that she was committed to a psychiatric hospital when she was 13 and -spent time at a Christian home in Mississippi.

She later attended Gilbert and Red Mountain high schools but dropped out before graduating.

She held jobs in a doctor's office,

an auto parts store and in a church working with children.

A year before the killing, "I was on speed really, really bad. That's what made me lose everything. That's what turned my life upside down.,,

Downey told police that she considered counseling but turned to God, instead.

I "I started reading the Bible, and it's helped," she said.