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Updated: 5:41 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004 | Posted: 5:41 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004
Six years ago, her seven-year-old girl was found dead bundled up in garbage bags along a Morton Road in Follansbee. Now, Michelle Sue Tharp learns she will be put to death in October. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed the death warrant today.
Tharp was sentenced in November 2000 for starving to death her seven-year-old daughter, Tausha Lee Lanham. Lanham was eleven pounds when she died. Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla interrogated Tharp and her boyfriend, Doug Bittenger. Both confessed to the crime. Bittinger led investigators to the body. Abdalla says it's one of the worst cases he's ever investigated. He says Tharp would tie up her daughter while the family ate dinner. He says he has no sympathy for Tharp.
"She's getting the death penalty," he said. "That's the best place for her."
Ashlea Kosikowski, NEWS 9
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