Sherwood mother will go to state hospital for treatment

Kristina Buckley, the Sherwood mother accused of strangling her daughter last summer, was found guilty except for insanity by a Washington County judge on Wednesday morning.

“She waived her right to a jury trial,” said Deputy District Attorney Rob Bletko, who was handling the case.

As a result, Judge Suzanne Upton ruled that the 39-year-old Buckley was responsible for the death of her daughter, Cecilia. The 11-year-old girl was found dead in the family’s Sherwood home on June 2, 2011. Later that month, Buckley was charged with one count of murder after she was released from a local hospital for self-inflicted wounds.

Buckley will go to the Oregon State Hospital where she’ll be under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, said Bletko.

Buckley has been held at the Washington County Jail since her arrest.

The tragic events began when police and fire crews were called to the family’s home in the 17600 block of Southwest Galewood Drive at about 5 p.m. on June 2. Despite her father’s attempt to revive the young girl by performing CPR, Cecilia was pronounced dead after being taken to Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Cecilia’s death sent shock waves through the community of 18,000 where homicides are rare, the last having occurred in August 2001.

At the time, Kristina Buckley admitted to strangling her daughter with her hands to protect the girl from pedophiles before trying to kill herself.

Shortly after Cecilia’s death, her friends and acquaintances recalled the girl’s short life and love of activities such as Girl Scouts, Scottish Dancing, American Girl dolls and gardening. They described her as a special person who possessed a maturity, intelligence and thoughtfulness beyond her years.

“She wasn’t just an exceptional girl; she was an exceptional human being,” Jennifer Kuiper, a co-leader in Cecilia’s Girl Scout troop, Troop 40099, said at the time. “She put everyone else before her.”

On June 6, 2011, all 11 girls in Cecilia’s Girl Scout troop attended her Greek Orthodox funeral in Beaverton. The day before, the same troop carried Cecilia’s cadet vest across a bridge in Sherwood’s Stella Olsen Park as part of the traditional Girl Scout “bridging” ceremony celebrating her promotion from being a junior Girl Scout to a cadet.

The ceremony ended with the girls releasing purple balloons (Cecilia’s favorite color), which contained notes about what they will remember about their friend.

Kuiper said at the time: “We just want the world to know what a beautiful person she was.”

Times reporter Geoff Pursinger contributed to this news story.