Mother, 37, murdered her two daughters, 15 and 5, after giving them sleep gums and then shot them in their sleep in revenge on her ex-husband who was planning to move away with her youngest
A Virginia woman has been found guilty of murdering her two children 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 pleaded not guilty to insanity.
The jury was unconvinced that mental illness was a mitigating factor in the mother’s decision to give her children sleep gummies before shooting them.
When her teenage daughter was dying, Veronica called her ex-husband, Ron Youngblood, to tell him she hated him and that she had shot the children.
The panel on Wednesday convicted Youngblood of first-degree murder and two counts of firearms use.
In 2016, Youngblood’s ex-wife applied for a protection order against her over a 4-year-old child
Veronica Youngblood (left) and her daughter Sharon Castro, who was shot dead in 2018
According to The Washington Post, Youngblood killed her children in her McLean apartment in revenge for her ex-husband’s plans to move with their youngest Brooklynn.
Fairfax County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Kelsey Gill told the court she was a “malicious, selfish and premeditated murderer.”
Fairfax County Public Defender Dawn Butorac said the mother’s attacks stemmed from her upbringing, growing up poor, being the victim of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of family members and becoming a sex worker after she was 16 years ago became pregnant with her eldest.
Butorac said she met her ex-husband as a sex worker, married in 2009 and had Brooklynn together in 2012.
The defense attorney also said Youngblood heard voices.
A distraught Youngblood was recorded telling investigators she was guilty and deserved the death penalty for killing her children. Prosecutors said she was manipulative and calculated.
She had bought a pistol nine days before her children were shot.
Youngblood also gave their kids sleep gummies to make sure they couldn’t resist.
Brooklynn died from a gunshot to the head.
Sharon called the police after being shot once in the back and once in the chest and reported that her mother had shot her. She died in the hospital.
Youngblood, then 33, was found after an acquaintance called the police when she knocked on the door, McLean Police District reported.
She was taken into custody without incident on August 6, 2018 and held without bond.
The firearm believed to be involved was seized when she was arrested.
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 reported at the time
Since Parkland, a teenage journalism project that covers child deaths, Brooklynn Youngblood said she was described as a “super cute kid” by her figure skating coach.
The site noted that Youngblood’s ex-spouse had filed a protection order against her over a 4-year-old child in 2016.
Sharon, also a figure skater, had almost reached her GoFundMe goal of $5,000 for medical bills after suffering a “terrible event”.