Va. Mom Who Killed Her 2 Daughters in Revenge Plot Against Ex Is Formally Sentenced to 78 Years
Veronica Youngblood, 38, was arrested in 2018 after she shot her daughters, 5-year-old Brooklynn Youngblood, 5, and Sharon Castro, 15
A Virginia mother has been sentenced to 78 years in prison six months after her March conviction for killing her two children in what prosecutors said was an act of revenge against her ex-husband, the Associated Press, The Washington Post and WUSA9 report.
Veronica Youngblood, 38, was arrested in 2018 after she shot her daughters, 5-year-old Brooklynn Youngblood, 5, and Sharon Castro, 15, according to the AP. Before she died in the hospital, the teenager was able to call 911 and tell authorities that her mother had shot her.
The jurors were presented with a recording of the teen's 911 call, which left some so haunted that they requested trauma therapy, the AP reports.
According to prosecutors, Youngblood told police her plan was to kill her children and then turn the gun on herself. She wanted to exact revenge on her ex-husband, who was scheduled to move to Missouri with Brooklynn the subsequent weekend.
Related: Va. Mom Murdered Her 2 Daughters, Then Called Their Father to Tell Him What She'd Done
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On the night of the killings, Youngblood gave her daughters gummies laced with melatonin before shooting them in their beds, prosecutors said, reports the AP.
Youngblood then called her ex-husband and left a voicemail telling him she loathed him and admitting to the killings, NBC4 reported.
Prior to her sentencing, Youngblood told the judge through a Spanish interpreter, "I’ve been a good mother, but something happened, I don’t know how to explain it."
She added, "Something exploded in my mind."
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