The 37-year-old mother murdered her two daughters, ages 15 and 5, after giving them sleeping gummies and then shooting them in their sleep in a twisted attempt to exact revenge on her ex-husband who was planning to move in with their daughter.
A Virginia woman has been found guilty of murdering her two children in an apparent attempt to get revenge on her ex-husband.
Veronica Youngblood, 37, admitted to sedating and killing Sharon Castro, 15, and Brooklynn Youngblood, 5, in 2018, but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The jury was not convinced that mental illness was a mitigating factor in the mother’s decision to give her sons sleeping gums before shooting them to death.
As her teenage daughter lay dying, Veronica called her ex-husband Ron Youngblood to tell him that she hated him and had shot the children.
The panel on Wednesday convicted Youngblood of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony use of firearms.
In 2016, Youngblood’s ex-spouse had filed for a protection order against her for a 4-year-old child.
Veronica Youngblood, left, and her daughter, Sharon Castro, who was shot to death in 2018
According the washington postYoungblood killed her children in her McLean apartment in revenge for her ex-husband’s plans to move in with the youngest, Brooklynn.
Fairfax County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Kelsey Gill told the court that she was a “malicious, selfish and deliberate murderer.”
Fairfax County Public Defender Dawn Butorac said the mother’s attacks were motivated by her upbringing, growing up poor, subject to physical and sexual abuse by family members, and led her to become a sex worker after becoming pregnant with her eldest child at the age of 16. .
Butorac said she had met her ex-husband as a sex worker, married in 2009 and had Brooklynn together in 2012.
The defense attorney also said that Youngblood had been hearing voices.
A distraught Youngblood was recorded telling investigators that she was guilty and deserved the death penalty for killing her children. Prosecutors said she was manipulative and calculated.
He had bought a gun nine days before shooting his sons to death.
Youngblood also gave his kids sleeping gummies to make sure they couldn’t resist.
Brooklynn died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Sharon called the police after being shot in the back and once in the chest and reported that her mother had shot them. She died at the hospital.
Youngblood, then 33, was found after an acquaintance called police when he knocked on the door, McLean Police District reported.
She was arrested on August 6, 2018 without incident and held without bail.
The firearm believed to be involved was recovered following his arrest.
Police were called to the 1500 block of Lincoln Circle in McLean, Virginia, where Brooklynn was pronounced dead at the scene.
Youngblood was arrested and taken into custody without incident, police said at the time.
From ParklandA teen journalism project that reports on child gun deaths, said Brooklynn Youngblood was described as a “super cute girl” by her figure skating coach.
The website noted that in 2016, Youngblood’s ex-spouse had filed for a protection order against her in relation to a 4-year-old boy.
Sharon, also a figure skater, had nearly reached her GoFundMe goal of $5,000 for medical bills after suffering a “horrific event.”