Captain America Actress Who Allegedly Killed Her Mother Claims Self-Defense

Howard Stark and Stark Girls in Captain America: First Avengers

(Image credit: (Marvel))

One of the “Stark Girls” from Captain America: The First Avenger was arrested on Christmas Eve for allegedly stabbing her mother to death. Now the actress and former assistant to the film’s director Joe Johnston is claiming her actions were in self-defense after her mom tried to murder her.

Mollie Fitzgerald has told Kansas cops that she had to disarm her mother Patricia after she came at her with the 10-inch knife. She claims their was a struggle that led to the weapon later being found lodged in the 68-year-old’s back over a pool of blood at the murder scene. Fitzgerald’s mother was stabbed four times on December 20. She called 911 just before 12 p.m. that day to report she had no choice but to kill her in defense, per Newsweek.

The 38-year-old actress, director and producer has repeatedly told authorities she had to kill her mother in self-defense, although the autopsy does not support her words. According to the Medical Examiner (via TMZ), evidence has been found that Mollie’s mom was defending herself from an attack, considering she has wounds on both her hands – referred to as “defensive injuries”. Patricia also had bruise marks around her face, lip and neck as well.

When the cops arrived at the scene, Mollie had a series of small cuts of her palms and a bite mark on the inside of her left bicep. The actress was treated with a tetanus shot and bandages before she was booked on December 24. The autopsy states that it "did not find any injuries consistent with Patricia having delivered any strikes or having been in control of the involved knife."

Mollie Fitzgerald was the assistant to director Joe Johnston on the set of 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and had a cameo in the film as one of “Stark Girls” as Dominic Cooper’s Howard Stark boasted his inventions at the Stark Expo Steve Rogers attends. Fitzgerald can be spotted alongside Cooper at the beginning of the film before Chris Evans’ character meets Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter and gets a taste of the super serum.

She was also a writer, director and producer of her own work, including 2014’s The Lawful Truth, starring First Avenger director Joe Johnston. The thriller is about a frustrated investigator who is attempting to figure out what led to the death of a law student. Ironic, huh? Much of her work was in the form of shorts, but she was reportedly filming a documentary called Fireball.

Mollie Fitzgerald had been allegedly living with her mom since last June. She reportedly told the court on January 2 that she would be representing herself in court. The judge has also ordered that she go through with a mental competency evaluation before the case continues to move forward.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.