By Luis De Jesus
Sep 23, 2023, 7:32 PM EDT
A Hispanic mother who gave her two daughters melatonin gummies to put them to sleep and then shot them dead in Virginia was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
Verónica Youngblood received a sentence of 78 years in prison for attacking Sharon Castro, 15, and Brooklyn Youngblood, 5. The incident occurred in August 2018 in her apartment in McLean.
The oldest daughter survived long enough to call 911 and alert authorities that her mother had shot them, he reported. Associated Press.
The jury heard a recording of that call during the trial, which lasted two weeks.
The mother confessed that she had planned to end her life after shooting her daughters, following a long dispute with her ex-husband, Ron Youngblood, over custody of both.
The man told the news agency that he intended to move with Sharon and Brooklyn to Missouri, but that after the woman objected he was only going to stay with the minor.
Verónica Youngblood alleged that she suffers from dementia and that she had a difficult childhood in Argentina, her country of origin, due to the poverty in which she lived. In addition, she claimed that she suffered physical and sexual abuse and that as a teenager she had to work in prostitution to support Sharon.
Before hearing the sentence, AP noted, he spent half an hour explaining to the jury that he had many difficulties raising his daughters. “I have been a good mother, but something happened, I don’t know how to explain it. “Something exploded in my mind,” Youngblood assured the judge through an interpreter.
Prosecutor Kelsey Gill said the mother had purchased the gun a week before committing the crime. “There are truly no words that can describe the depravity with which Mrs. Youngblood planned and carried out the execution of her children,” she said.
The sentences for the murders will run consecutively. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows said mothers and fathers have many responsibilities, but none are more important than keeping their children safe.
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