Family of dismembered KY mother still in shock: ‘Never going to be believable’
Editor’s note: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
A Mount Olivet woman charged with the murder and dismemberment of her mother had a “not guilty plea” entered on her behalf by her attorney Tuesday afternoon.
Torilena Fields, 32, is accused of shooting her mother, Trudy Fields, in the head and stabbing her before “decapitating, dismembering, eviscerating her mother’s corpse and placing her head, feet and forearms in a pot in the oven and heating them until they were charred,” according to the indictment returned Oct. 14 by a Robertson County grand jury.
She is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, evidence tampering, torturing a cat or dog and obstructing governmental operations.
Fields appeared with her attorney Laura Fitzer at a Tuesday circuit court arraignment hearing. Her bond remains at $1.5 million.
Fitzer said she and her co-counsel, Chris Tracy, are looking forward sharing more details about the case.
“We are just looking forward to being able to tell Torilena’s story and it is going to take some time to do that,” Fitzer said.
Both the suspect and victim’s family, from Indiana, were present at the proceedings. They described Torilena, who appeared on a video call, as being “aware.”
“It looks like nothing is wrong,” said Todd Brock, Trudy’s brother.
“She was alert; she paid attention. I didn’t see anything that she was psycho or mental. She was talking to the judge like a human being. I thought she would be out of her head.”
Regarding trying to navigate the victim being his sister and his niece being the suspect, Brock said, “I feel sorry for the girl, but my sister is my sister. Kids don’t do that to their mother.”
He wants to know what happened. Bock said they have been “sitting in the wind, waiting” for answers. The family has not been able to hold funeral arrangements for their sister, and have no idea when they will be able to.
Diana Brock, Trudy’s younger sister, said the circumstances of the case were “never going to be believable.”
Torilena Fields’ next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 10.
What led to the charges
According to police, two men who Trudy Fields had hired to work at her home on Brierly Ridge Road in Mount Olivet called them Oct. 9, after they went to the home and found the dismembered body, a pile of hair and a bloody mattress behind the home.
The men said they had seen Trudy Fields at the home the evening before, and Torilena Fields had been there as well, “casting spells on them” and “being confrontational.”
When police removed Torilena Fields from the home, they said she had blood on her face, hands and clothing.
Police found a warm pot in the oven containing contained human body parts that appeared to have been cooked, court records state.
Fields also tortured and killed a dog, the indictment states.
In October, prosecutors filed a motion asking the court to require several banks and a life insurance company to produce records for Trudy Fields’ accounts. They will provide “evidence concerning Trudy Fields’s death and the defendant’s commission of the offenses” for which she was indicted, prosecutors said.
Other details related to the case
Torilena Fields’ sister blamed a third sibling — a brother — for the mother’s death in a request for a temporary restraining order against him. The accusation was made by Telby Fields, the 31-year-old daughter of Trudy Fields against her 42-year-old brother, Truitt Fields. A judge later denied to extend the emergency order citing the family was scared of Truitt, but that there was no “direct proof” he was a threat or had anything to do with Trudy Field’s murder.
The indictment says Torilena Fields also goes by the name Naomi or Nao Navarre.
Before her arrest, she was an aspiring actress who lived in California until recently, according to media reports. A profile for Naomi Navarre on imdb.com says she had roles in two 2019 films, “The Desert Project” and “A Dance Story.”
