Parents are supposed to protect and love their children at all costs. But tragically, too many minors die at the hands of caregivers each year. Recently, a Pennsylvania mom was sentenced after hanging her two young kids with dog leashes.
Conner, 8, and Brinley, 4, were discovered hanging in the basement of their Albany Township, Pennsylvania, home in 2019. Their mother, Lisa Snyder, 41, was convicted in September of murdering her children. Now, Snyder has finally learned her fate.
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The Pennsylvania mom was sentenced after hanging her two young kids with dog leashes.
On October 17, Snyder was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for murdering Conner and Brinley, the Daily Mail reported. She will also serve eight to 17 years afterward in state prison for other charges. As she was sentenced, Snyder showed no emotion, according to the Main Line Times & Suburban.
Meanwhile, Berks County President Judge Theresa Johnson said Snyder’s crime was the most violent murder she had seen. “The fact that an individual could put their hands on another individual to commit a murder makes it so much worse than if you stood across the street and fired a gun at them,” she said while announcing the sentencing, per the Daily Mail.
In September 2024, Snyder was found guilty of murdering her children.
On September 24, the mother was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, and evidence tampering, WFMZ reported. “We’re very pleased with the verdict to say the least,” said Berks County District Attorney John Adams, according to the news outlet. “This was a nightmare of a case from day one.”
Snyder called 911 on September 23, 2019, claiming to have found Conner and Brinley hanging in her home.
First responders found the siblings in the basement, hanging by a cable dog leash with dining room chairs knocked over underneath them, 6 ABC reported. Although responders freed and resuscitated them, Conner and Brinley died three days later in the hospital after being removed from life support.
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Snyder initially claimed that her son was suicidal and killed himself and his sister.
Although Snyder claimed that Conner was bullied and suicidal, witness statements from school officials and his bus driver painted a picture of a “happy-go-lucky” child, Main Line Times & Suburban reported.
Snyder later admitted to purchasing the dog leash. Investigators also found in her online search history inquiries related to hanging and suicide and links to episodes of a documentary series, I Almost Got Away With It, per the Daily Mail.
In a witness impact statement, her 17-year-old son called her a 'monster.'
Snyder’s son, Owen, 22, was 17 when his younger brother and sister were murdered.
“If I could turn back time I would, just to hear their voices,” he said during an impact statement at the sentencing hearing, per the Daily Mail. “That day I didn’t just lose my brother and sister, I lost my mother as well.”
Owen added, “‘Since September 23, 2019, I don’t consider you my mother. I consider you a monster.”
