Virginia mom convicted of giving daughters sleeping medicine and fatally shooting them
03/24/2023 12:41 pm PDT
FAIRFAX, Va. (TCD) -- A jury found a 37-year-old woman guilty of killing her 5-year-old and 15-year-old daughters in 2018 by giving them sleeping pills and fatally shooting them.
According to WTOP-TV, the mother, Veronica Youngblood, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 15-year-old Sharon Castro and 5-year-old Brooklynn Youngblood, but she was nonetheless convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of felony use of a firearm.
The Washington Post reports Youngblood’s trial lasted nearly two weeks. On Aug. 5, 2018, Youngblood reportedly provided her daughters with sleeping gummies, then shot them because voices in her head reportedly told her to do it. Brooklynn reportedly died from a gunshot wound to the head, and Sharon was shot in the back and chest. She survived long enough to call 911 but then died at the hospital.
Following the shooting, Youngblood reportedly telephoned her ex and informed him that she killed the two girls. Brooklynn was supposed to move to Missouri with her father just before she was killed, according to the Washington Post.
At her trial, Youngblood testified that she was physically and sexually abused as a child, then abandoned by her parents. She said she became a sex worker, which is how she met her ex-husband, according to WUSA-TV.
Following the conviction, Youngblood reportedly started yelling at prosecutors and had to be restrained.
Prosecutors are seeking two life sentences for Youngblood.
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