The Pennsylvania mother convicted of killing her two young children by hanging them with a dog leash has met her fate.
Lisa Snyder, 41, who was convicted 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. Main line and suburban timetables reported.
Their two children, Conner, 8, and Brinley, 4, were found hanging from a support beam in the basement of their home in September 2019.
His two life sentences will also be followed by eight to 17 years in state prison on the remaining charges.
Lisa Snyder, 41, a Pennsylvania mother, learned she will spend the rest of her life behind bars for killing her two young children.
Snyder’s 8-year-old son, Conner, and 4-year-old daughter, Brinley, were found hanging from a support beam in the basement with a dog leash tied around their necks in September 2019.
In handing down the sentence, Berks County Presiding 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 could put his hands on another to commit murder makes it much worse than if you were across the street and shot him,” Johnson said.
Snyder’s 22-year-old son, Owen, who was 17 when his brothers were killed, was the only witness to provide an impact statement during the 30-minute hearing.
“If I could go back in 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, I also lost my mother.”
Owen added: ‘As of September 23, 2019, I no longer consider you my mother. I consider you a monster.’
Since his frantic call to 911 on the day of the murders, he blamed the murders on his 8-year-old son, claiming that he was depressed and wanted to die, but was too afraid to do it alone.
On the afternoon of September 23, 2019, Snyder made a frantic call to 911 claiming that she had found her two children hanging in the basement of her home.
When first responders arrived, they found Conner and Brinley hanging from a dog leash with bar-style dining room chairs knocked down beneath them. 6ABC reported.
Snyder later admitted to purchasing the dog’s leash at a Walmart on the day of the murders.
The children were able to be freed and resuscitated before being rushed to hospital, where they died three days later.
Snyder was arrested in December 2019.
He has since blamed Conner for the gruesome murders.
She had allegedly told police that her children had threatened to commit suicide, specifically her son, who she said had faced vicious bullies at school since first grade because of his weight and speech impediment. Main line and suburban timetables reported.
He claimed that Connor had no friends and was depressed, telling him over and over that he wanted to die.
“He’s a very sensitive kid,” Snyder said at the trial in September. “He’s an angry kid.”
She said her fight with bullies was taking such a toll on her that she began to starve and lost 25 pounds in a month before her death.
He also said he began to suffer mood swings, particularly when interacting with his little sister, to which Snyder said he believed 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 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 “carefree,” the Main Line Times & Suburban reported.
Officials at the Kutztown school district, where Connor was a student, testified that he enjoyed school and seemed to have friends.
Family members took the stand to note how they spoke to Connor about the harassment, who appeared to be confused about their claims.
Connor’s bus driver testified that on the day of his hanging, the boy jumped off the school bus and turned around with a big smile as he said goodbye to his friends.
Snyder’s defense team argued that she had a long history of untreated mental illness and attempted to argue that if she committed the crime, she did so while criminally insane.
Snyder’s Albany Township home, where his children were found hanging from a dog leash he later admitted to purchasing.
Snyder was arrested in December 2019.
Her lawyers asked that if Johnson decided that she had, in fact, killed her children, she be sent to a hospital instead of prison.
Prosecutors emphasized that Snyder’s actions leading up to the murders showed it was not a spur-of-the-moment mistake, but a cold, calculated crime, Main Line Times & Suburban. reported.
They pointed to their Google searches in the days before the murders, which were related to suicide and hanging.
It 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 authorities finally caught them. 6ABC reported.
And on the days they found the children, Snyder Googled whether 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 at the time said they found evidence on Snyder’s Facebook account.
A judge ruled those claims would not be admitted in the murder trial after the defense team argued they would prejudice the jury.
Since Snyder agreed to a bench 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 brothers were killed, said he considers his mother a monster.
Snyder agreed to 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 the death penalty.
After the seven-day trial in front of Johnson, 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. Main line and suburban timetables reported.
The guilty verdict came less than 90 minutes after closing arguments were completed.
“I can’t think of any crime more serious than kidnapping a 4-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy,” said prosecutor Meg McCallum.
“She decided to harm her children, and they suffered as they hung by their necks, gasping for air.”
She added that Snyder failed at the only job of his life: caring for his children, who needed their mother.
