Say What Now? Daughter Charged in Mother’s Brutal Stabbing Death After Dad Finds Alarming Note in Diary

The victim’s daughter is one of the teens arrested and charged with murder for the death of Andreea Mottram (above right), 47, whose body was found by the cleaning staff inside the rental property on March 23 with 14 stab wounds.

Mottram’s daughter Mihaela “Bella” Gabriela Sorescu (above left), 16, and Abigael “Jay” Paige Flanagan (above center), 17, with both charged in 4th District Court on Friday and are being held in the Dixie Area Detention Center in Washington County, per Fox affiliate KSTU.

The teens have been formally charged with first-degree felony murder, second-degree felony obstruction of justice, and second-degree felony theft of a car, per a statement from the Washington County Attorney’s office. Per Utah Law, they will both be charged as adults.

The Investigation

According to court documents unsealed on Friday and reviewed by KSTU, Sorescu’s father told police he’d found his daughter’s diary, where she had allegedly written back in November “how much she hated her mother and wrote that she wanted to kill her.”

Additionally, police reported finding phones belonging to both suspects, as well as a purse containing Mottram’s ID, in a toilet inside the VRBO home where the victim’s body was found. Investigators also found multiple knives, including one in the sink that appeared as if it had been “washed off,” but still had “trace amounts of blood” on it.

There was also a pair of pants found “crumpled up in a ball” in a bathroom, as detailed by Law & Crime, that had blood on both legs. Investigators also noted a “bloody imprint of a knife blade” on the left leg, according to the court documents, which detectives believe belonged to Sorescu due to their size.

After Mottram’s body was discovered, the two teens were labeled “persons of interest” in the police investigation, as they sought to find them. They were ultimately found in Los Angeles County and extradited back to Utah.

Digging into the history of both suspects, police discovered that Sorescu had been in a Washington County residential treatment facility for the past three years, and had a history of both violence and self harm, per KUTV. Flanagan had also been at a facility for at least a year before being removed by their parents. It is not clear if the teens were at the same facility.

Attempting to retrace the events leading up to Mottram’s death in their filing, police determined that Mottram traveled to Utah with Flanagan to visit Sorescu, according to KSTU, who was still at the treatment facility.

People notes that police stated Mottram traveled to Las Vegas on March 20 to rent a vehicle, during which time she was accompanied by two juveniles, presumably the suspects. Police believe that after killing her, the teens stole this rental vehicle and drove it back to California.

The Victim

Mottram, who was originally from Romania, was a social worker and co-founder of disability and refugee aid associations in the U.S. and Romania, including Chicago-Based ARCHER (American Romanian Coalition for Human and Equal Rights), as well as an advocacy and aid group for autistic individuals in Romania.

“It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the loss of our beloved Andreea Mottram, a fierce advocate, a compassionate leader, and a dear friend to so many within our community,” said ARCHER in a statement received by Fox News. “Like many of you, we are still in shock at this heartbreaking news. Andreea’s dedication to justice, equity, and human rights was not just a mission—it was the very essence of who she was.”

According to KSTU, Mottram championed and helped found these organizations in response to her own two sons, who are on the autism spectrum. Sorascu was later adopted, according to the outlet.