Actress with role in ‘Captain America’ film charged with stabbing her mother in Olathe
Update: Mollie Fitzgerald appeared in court by video Thursday and said she would be representing herself in the case. That story is posted here.
Olathe Police on Tuesday arrested 38-year-old Mollie Fitzgerald on charges of second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing her mother inside a Johnson County home earlier this month.
On Dec. 20, 68-year-old Patricia “Tee” Fitzgerald was found dead in her Olathe home in the 10200 block of South Shadow Circle. A few days later, police said everyone involved in the incident had been identified, though the case remained under investigation. Fitzgerald is now in the Johnson County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Fans of “Captain America: The First Avenger” have seen Mollie Fitzgerald — a movie director, producer and actress — in a small role in the film, according to the site IMDb. The 38-year-old worked on mostly lower-budget films, including 2014’s “The Lawful Truth” and 2017’s “The Creeps.”
In “Captain America,” which reportedly grossed $176.6 million in the United States, Fitzgerald played “Stark Girl” and worked as an assistant to Director Joe Johnson.
“Being a part of this production has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she said in an interview with a comic book publication in July 2011. Though her acting role was “very small,” she said, “you can’t pay for the experience I’ve had.”
Victim was moving back home
Her mother, Patricia Fitzgerald, was in the process of moving back to the Kansas City area after living several decades in the Houston area, said her brother Gary Hunziker.
Their family grew up on a farm in northeast Missouri, he said, but after studying physical therapy at the University of Missouri, his sister made her way to the Kansas City area. She then moved to Texas, where her husband had a law firm.
As a child, she was active in sports and 4-H. She was a dairy princess. Even after her marriage, she would return to help with the family’s dairy farm in Kahoka, Missouri., said Hunziker, 72.
“The dairy farm was a big part of her life,” he said.
Though they lived far apart, he said he stayed close with his sister over the years and saw her recently when she attended local basketball games coached by his son.
The family plans a funeral on Friday at Divine Mercy Parish in Gardner, according to an online obituary.
Hunziker, who now lives in Keokuk, Iowa, said he knew few details about the circumstances surrounding his sister’s death.
“We were shocked,” he said. But, “it doesn’t matter the circumstances — the loss of a sister is what it’s all about.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 6:19 PM.
