Pennsylvania mother who hanged her two young children with dog leash learns her fate

The Pennsylvania mother convicted of killing her two young children by hanging them from a dog leash has learned her fate.

Lisa Snyder, 41, who was found guilty last month of murdering her two children in their Albany Township home, will spend the rest of her life behind bars after being sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole .

Snyder showed no emotion as she was sentenced Thursday. Mainline times and suburbs reported.

Her two children, Conner, 8, and Brinley, 4, were found hanging from a support beam in the basement of their home in September 2019.

Her two life sentences will also be followed by eight to 17 years in prison on remaining charges.

Snyder’s 8-year-old son, Conner, and her 4-year-old daughter, Brinley, were found hanging from a basement support beam in September 2019 with a dog leash around their necks.

As she handed down the sentence, Berks County President Judge Theresa Johnson said Snyder’s crime was the most violent murder she has seen in her time on the court.

“The fact that an individual can take control of another individual to commit murder makes it so much worse than if you stood across the street and fired a gun at them,” Johnson said.

Snyder’s 22-year-old son, Owen, who was 17 when his siblings were killed, was the only witness to provide an impact statement during the 30-minute hearing.

“If I could turn back time, I would, just to hear their voices,” he said, using his mother’s first name to address her. ‘That day I not only lost my brother and sister, but also my mother.’

Owen added, “As of September 23, 2019, I don’t consider you my mother. I consider you a monster.”

Since her panicked call to 911 on the day of the murders, she blamed her 8-year-old son for the murders. She claimed he was depressed and wanted to die but was too scared to do so alone.

On the afternoon of September 23, 2019, Snyder made a panicked 911 call, claiming she had found her two children hanged in the basement of her home.

When first responders arrived, they found Conner and Brinley hanging from a cable dog leash with bar-style dining room chairs overturned underneath. 6ABC reported.

Snyder later admitted that he bought the dog leash at a Walmart on the day of the murders.

The children were freed and resuscitated before being rushed to hospital, where they died three days later.

Snyder was arrested in December 2019.

She has since blamed Conner for the gruesome murders.

She allegedly told police that her children had threatened suicide, especially her son, who she claimed had faced vicious bullying at school since first grade because of his weight and speech impediment. Mainline times and suburbs reported.

She claimed that Connor had no friends and was depressed, telling her over and over that he wanted to die.

“He’s a very sensitive boy,” Snyder said during the trial in September. “He’s an angry child.”

She said his struggles with bullies took such a toll on him that he began starving himself and lost 25 pounds in a month before his death.

She also said he started having mood swings, especially when interacting with his little sister, to which Snyder said she thought he was jealous.

Snyder claimed that Conner eventually convinced his little sister to join him because he was too afraid to die alone.

When the trial began last month, key witnesses — including Owen, teachers, counselors, a school bus driver and other family members — took to the stand to tell a different story.

They testified that the 8-year-old boy was a happy child with no signs of depression.

Owen, 22, described him as “happy-go-lucky,” Main Line Times & Suburban reported.

Officials from the Kutztown School District, where Connor was a student, testified that he enjoyed going to school and seemed to have friends.

Family members took the stand to note how they talked about bullying with Connor, who seemed confused about their claims.

Connor’s bus driver testified that on the day of his hanging, the child got off the school bus and turned around with a big smile as he waved to his friends.

Snyder’s defense team argued that she had a long history of untreated mental illness and tried to argue that if she committed the crime, she did so while criminally insane.

Snyder’s home in Albany Township, where her children were found hanging from a dog leash they later admitted to purchasing

Snyder was arrested in December 2019

Her lawyers asked that if Johnson decided she had indeed killed her children, she would be sent to a hospital instead of jail.

Prosecutors emphasized that Snyder’s actions leading up to the killings proved it was not a spontaneous mistake, but a cold and calculated crime, according to Main Line Times & Suburban. reported.

They pointed to her Google searches in the days leading up to the murders, which related to suicide and hanging.

She was also linked to internet searches for episodes of a documentary series called I Almost Got Away With It – a show about criminals who evaded justice for decades until the police finally caught up with them. 6ABC reported.

And on the days the children were found, Snyder searched Google to see if an idling hybrid car would produce carbon monoxide.

Snyder was also initially accused of having sex with her pit bull shortly before the murders, after investigators said at the time they found evidence on Snyder’s Facebook account.

A judge ruled that these claims would not be allowed in the murder trial after the defense team argued that the claims would prejudice the jury.

Because Snyder accepted a judicial trial, she was ineligible for the death penalty and was ultimately sentenced to two life sentences

Snyder’s 22-year-old son Owen, who was 17 when his siblings were killed, said he views his mother as a monster.

Snyder accepted a bench trial instead of a jury trial – a trial in which the judge decides the case without a jury present. This made her ineligible for a death sentence.

Following Johnson’s seven-day trial, Snyder was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of endangering the welfare of children and one count of tampering with evidence. Mainline times and suburbs reported.

The guilty verdict came less than 90 minutes after closing arguments concluded.

“I can’t think of a more serious crime than the kidnapping of a four-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy,” said prosecutor Meg McCallum.

“She chose to hurt her children, and they suffered as they hung by their necks and gasped for breath.”

She added that Snyder failed at her one job in life: caring for her children who needed their mother.