325: Conner & Brinley Snyder - podcast episode cover

325: Conner & Brinley Snyder

Sep 08, 202545 min
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Episode description

One morning in September of 2019, paramedics were directed to a home in the village of Kempton, Pennsylvania. A 911 call had come in from a frantic mother. She described finding her children hanging from the rafters of the basement.

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to let you know about Morbidology Plus, our premium subscription available through Apple Subscriptions. When you join Morbidology Plus, you'll get completely ad free episodes, so you can immerse yourself in these stories without interruption. Plus subscribers also get early access to new episodes before anybody else, and exclusive bonus episodes of

Morbidology Plus that aren't on the regular podcast platforms. If you love diving deep into true crime and want to support the show while getting that extra content, please check out Morbidology Plus in your Apple Podcasts app Well, let's get into today's case.

Speaker 2

It was a very difficult investigation. Any time that any of us have to investigate prosecute cases that involved the abuse or death of an innocent child, it all hits us in the heart.

Speaker 1

Talked into the rolling hills and farmland to be eastern Pennsylvania lies the small village of Kempton. It's close to the base of the Blue Mountain Range, a place where winding roads cut through pastures and forests. Kempton was settled in the eighteenth century, primarily by the Pennsylvania Dutch. These settlers established farms mills and small churches. By the May eighteen hundreds, it had a post office, general store and

was becoming a small but active farming community. The arrival of the railroad helped to shape the village's early economy. Even today, Kempton has kept its unique charm, but it has a surprisingly active cultural life for such a rural village. There's the Wannamaker Kempton and Southern Railroad Hawk Mountain Sanctuary,

and it has a thriving folk festival culture. Life for the residents is quiet and peaceful, but that was all shattered one day in September of two thy nineteen, a nine one one call came into police reporting something so horrific that it sounded like a scene from a horror mood. Two children were unresponsive, found hanging from the rafters of a basement. Lisa Snyder was a single mother raising three children in a modest white home on a dead end route.

Her eldest Owen, was seventeen years old. Then there was eight year old Connor and his little sister, four year old Brinley. Connor and Brinley weren't just siblings. They were best friends, even at that age where older brothers often want distance from their younger sisters. They were said to be inseparable. Wherever Connor was, Brinley was always close behind.

At school, their bond was well known. Connor was a student at Greenwich len Hartsville Elementary School and Brindley had just started her second year of pre K at the Early Learning Community. Teachers described them both as warm and joyful. They were the kind of kids who made an impression not because they were loud or roidy, but because they carried something gentle with them. Doctor Christian tem Chyden, the district superintendent, would later speak of Connor with deep affection.

He remembered how he often earned rewards in school, and instead of picking a toy or prize for himself, he would always choose something he could bring home to his sister Brindley. He recalled, he spoke lovingly of his sister Brindley. That small act said everything about the kind of boy that Connor was. Connor had recently discovered the dog Man book series and had taken to it with a contagious enthusiasm. He could often have been found giggling during reading workshops

at school. His teacher recalled how his laughter was infectious kind of sound that started small and then spread through the class. But reading was in Connor's only passion. He had a curious mind, especially when it came to science. He was deeply fascinated by rocks and minerals and loved to bring his latest finds to show his teacher. He was a dancer as well, and had mastered the flaws dance,

the kind that requires fast hips and flailing arms. He wasn't shy about showing it off at any chance he got. He danced because it made people smile. Brindley was just four years old, but she was beginning to blossom in her own way. Kindergarten had opened up a world of possibility for her, and she loved it. Like so many little girls her age, she enjoyed the movie Frozen and dressed up as Elsa or Anna any chance she got.

She had the kind of imagination that turns a living room into a castle, a blanket into a royal cape, and her big brother into a trusted sidekick. It was just after four thirty pm on the twenty third of September twenty nineteen when the nine one one call came in. The voice on the other end of the line was frantic. It was Lisa Snyder. She told the dispatcher that she had just found her two youngest children, eight year old Connor and four year old Brinley, hanging in the basement

of their home. Lisa said they were suspended by a single dog leash, a plastic covered chain that had been looped over a support beam. The chain stretched across the room, with one end around Connor's neck and the other around Brinley's. Beneath them, two small chairs had been tipped over, as if they'd each climbed onto them before stepping off. Lisa's voice trembled as she explained she had tried to left Brinley, who wedg just forty pounds, but claimed that she was

frozen with panic and unable to do anything more. She said she'd always feared that something like this might happen. Connor, she told the dispatcher, had been bullied at school, he had made suicidal months before, and in her words, he didn't want to go alone. Now, she said, they were both hanging from the rafters in the basement. Paramedic Eric bob and Moyer was the first to arrive at the

Snyder home. The nine one one operator had instructed Lisa to wait for help outside, but when Eric pulled up to the house, nobody was there. The front yard was still and the house was quiet. Eric knocked on the front door. Lisa eventually opened. She seemed anxious, nervous, even, but not visibly distraught. She wasn't crying. She must have been in a state of shock. He thought she was

on her cell phone, distracted, talking to somebody. When Eric asked whether anybody else was inside the house, she didn't answer. Without waiting for a response, Eric stepped past her and made his way inside. He followed an arrow stairwell down to the basement. To the right. He saw nothing, but when he turned left, the scene that met him would stay with him forever. Two small children suspended in mid air, motionless,

each hanging by a loop of a dog chain. It was the kind of thing that nobody, not even a season paramedic, is ever fully prepared to see. Two little chairs had toppled over just beneath them. Eric moved quickly. He felt their skin. It was still warm. He unclasped the chain around Brindley's neck and brought her down first. Connor, who was heavier, couldn't be lowered alone. By then another paramedic had arrived, and together they carefully removed him and

laid him on the floor. Both children were unresponsive. CPR began immediately as they fought to see of the children. Pennsylvania State Trooper Jeremy Hummel arrived outside. He finally says, standing calmly in the front yard, they're in the basement, she said, simply. She didn't rush towards the commotion, She didn't follow them inside. She didn't ask for updates. Instead, she stood back. Soon after, a medical helicopter was dispatched.

Time was critical now. Trooper Hummel helped carry the stretchers containing Connor and Brinley out of the basement, through the house and into the waiting helicopter. They were then flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, where doctors and nurses immediately took over life saving efforts. Miraculously, both children had been revived while in the air, but when they arrived at the hospital, it quickly became clear

that they weren't out of the woods. Doctors then delivered the news that no parent ever wants to hear. Both Connor and Brindley were brain dead. In medical terms, brain death means that all activity in the brain, including the brain stem, has stopped permanently. Unlike a coma, brain death is legally and medically considered death. There's no possibility of recovery. Machines might keep the heartbeating for a while, but the person is essentially gone. The children were placed on live support.

Lisa meanwhile began texting her friends. She wrote, I can't cry any more and I'm completely numb. My life has been ripped to shreds and it's never going to get better. For three days, Connor and Brinley remained in the hospital, their bodies bating only with the help of the machines. Those who knew them held on to hope, even as doctors offered none. Then on the third day, Lisa sent another message, They're pulling the plug. There was nothing more

that could be done. Connor and Brinley passed away on the twenty sixth of September two thousand nineteen, just fourteen minutes apart. They'd been together in life, and they went together in death. That evening, Lisa changed her Facebook profile photo. The image bore a quote in bold letters, words scar rumors destroy Billy's kill. To anyone on the outside looking in, it painted a tragic picture to young children driven to a suicide, packed by the cruelty of others, but not

everybody was convinced. In the days following Connor and Brindley's deaths, the great stricken image Lisa Snyder projected was that of a devastated mother who had just lost her entire world. But behind the scenes, investigators were beginning to question the versions of events that she had given. Lisa agreed to come to the police station voluntarily. Detectives were still entertaining

the possibility that this could have been a suicide. If other children had contributed to that bullying, there was a chance that charges could be filed. They needed to understand what Connor had been going through. In the interview room, Lisa spoke openly. She told detectives that Connor had been relentlessly bullied at school because of his weight. She said that he had lost twenty five pounds since the school year began, and said that he had been starving himself.

Lisa also said that her son had a speech delay, in developmental challenges, things that had made him a target. She explained he's a little slower to grasp things, and kids make fun of him because he was fat. She went on to say that Connor once told her I would have killed myself already, but I'm scared to go by myself. She claimed that he hated school and told her that every day. She said he had been having mood swings, especially around Brimley. Lisa believed that he may

have been a bit jealous of his little sister. She told detectives that on the afternoon of September twenty third, Connor had come home from school and asked if he could build a fort in the basement, something she said he loved doing. He wanted to use household items, including a couple of dining chairs and a dog leash. He loves building for shorts, that's his thing, she said. Lisa claimed that Connor had dragged the chairs into the basement,

stopping midway to rest and grab a drink. Then, she said he invited Brinley to come and play with him. Lisa was putting away laundry and then stepped outside for a cigarette. She told the detective she was only gone for about ten minutes when she came back inside to ask the kids what they wanted for dinner, she found them hanging from the beam. She told them she had tried to lift Brinley, but she couldn't. Her anxiety spike, she said, caused her to sweat heavily and feel weak.

She even claimed she tried to lift Conner, who weighed around one hundred and fifty pounds, but said that it was impossible, so she ran upstairs and called nine one one. Detectives listened closely to her story. On the surface, it hid all the right emotional notes, her mother desperate to see if her children, overwhelmed by anxiety, caught in a living nightmare, But something about it didn't sit right. Almost immediately they had their doubts. District Attorney John Adams would

later reflect on that first interview. He stated, I would agree that we all may think that a mother of children who have found hanging would make every effort possible to save them. Lisa's story painted herself as helpless, but for detectives it raised a different kind of alarm. As

they looked closer, more problems began to emerge. Connor, it turned out, had a physical disability that would have made it nearly impossible for him to do what Lisa was suggesting, he had very poor dexterity, the kind of fine motor issues that would have made it difficult for him to manipulate the clasp of a dog leash. Not only that, but the leeha had been looked over the beam with an equal length on either side, a level of position

that didn't match Connor's known abilities. Lisa had told detectives that Connor was depressed, that he was bullied, that he didn't want to live any more, and that he didn't want to die alone. She had even sent out a group text to her family before the incident, asking them to show Connor love. But when detectives reached out to those same family members, they heard something very different. Owen, Connor's older brother said he had never seen any signs

that his brother was depressed. He didn't remember Connor complaining about bullying. Their cousin, Kimberly Watson said the same. In fact, when she received Lisa's text message, she was concerned enough to go and pick Connor up from school herself. She recollected, I said, are you happy I picked you up? And he said yeah, but I do like riding the bus. I have a lot of friends. On the bus to Kimberlin, Connor hadn't seemed to upset at all. He hadn't mentioned

being bullied, He didn't make any dark comments. He was just his usual self, chatty, cheerful, and full of energy. The school had also reported no signs of trouble. Connor had friends and he was engaged. His teachers described him as happy and friendly and noted if there were any concerns about depression or suicidal thoughts, they hadn't seen them.

There was something else that stood out to detectives. Lisa claimed that Connor and Brindley often played in the basement, but when they spoke with Owen, he said they didn't. The basement, he said, just wasn't a place where the children spent any time. None of this added up to a suicide, at least not the kind that Lisa was describing.

Detectives were beginning to look at Lisa with fresh eyes, and as they turned their focus towards her, her behavior, her history, her digital footprint, what they found was deeply unsettling. The investigation was picking up momentum while Lisa Snyder continued to present herself as a grieving mother, posting sad messages on Facebook and changing her profile photo to anti billying Slogan's detectives were beginning to unravel a much darker history.

At the time of their deaths, both Connor and his older brother Owen were already known to Child Protective Services. This wasn't the first time that there had been serious concerns about Lisa Snyder's ability to care for her children. In fact, it wasn't even close. Back in twenty and fourteen, when Connor was just two years old, both boys were removed from Lisa's custody. Lisa had confessed to harboring violent thoughts.

She told detectives that she had placed cords and bottle caps in Connor's crib, things a toddler could easily choke on, and that it was no accident. She admitted that she hoped her two year old son wouldn't survive the night. But the disturbing thoughts went back even further. When Owen was still a baby, Lisa had spoken to her car Jessica Widlick, about something that chilled her to the core. Lisa felt abandoned by Owen's father and told Jessica that

if she ever decided to end her life. She would take Owen with her. She said she would put him in a car and drive straight into a lake. Despite these deeply troubling confessions, after six months in a mental health facility, Lisa was granted Costaday again. The boys came back home and the next year Brindley was born. Not years later, one of those boys was dead, so was his little sister, and suspicion was growing that Lisa had finally acted on those dark thoughts. Detectives served to search

warrant at the family's home. They removed several boxes of evidence from inside, including the dog lash the children had been found hanging from, and the two chairs that had been knocked over nearby. But they weren't just looking at physical evidence. They were also focused on digital clues. Lisa had claimed that Connor was bing bullied on mine. If that was true, they needed to see those messages. Investigators

collected two iPads, a laptop, and an xbox. If there was any sign he was planning something, if he had confided in somebody they wanted to know. Lisa also handed over her cell phone, but soon detectives discovered something she hadn't told them. Lisa had a second phone. Her seventeen year old son, Owen told detectives about it, she hadn't turned it over during the investigation. That alone raised red flags.

The black Huskie pit bull that the family owned, the dog whose leash was used in the hangings, it's no longer in the home. Lisa had given him away. Investigators had assumed the chain had been the dogs, but now the dog was gone, along with a crucial part of the context to run that chain. For detectives, it was looking more and more like a carefully constructed story was beginning to fall upon art. Three out of four US

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should have been a celebration. It would have been Connor's ninth birthday, but instead of a party, it was a memorial. Sixty people formed a semicircle in the open field behind the center, clutching bright helium balloons on a table stood framed photographs of Connor and Brinley smiling at a swimming pool, running through a playground posing in their pictures. There was also artwork, one of Connor's paintings, a colorful bouquet of

flowers in a vase. On either side of the painting were two certificates confirming what the children had done in death donated their organs. The certificate read through the combassionate decision to help others through organ tissue or cornya donation Connor and Brindley who provided hope to the men, women and children who are in need of a life saving or life enhancing transplant. When the balloons were relayed, somebody called out catch them, Connor as the sky filled with color.

Then quietly and mournfully, the group sang Happy Birthday. Connor and Brindley's older brother, Owen was there, but Lisa wasn't. Though she had steed away from the public vigil, she was present online. On Facebook, she posted frequently about her grief. One post read, every day it gets harder. I miss you both so much. I just want to hold you, kiss you. All I do is cry. I love you both with all my heart. I just want you back.

But in private detectives were beginning to believe that Lisa wasn't being honest, and for District Attorney John Adams, the idea that an eight year old boy could orchestrate a murder suicide was difficult to swallow. He stated, eight year olds, generally that I am aware of, don't commit suicide. So of course we had questions. What happened in that basement was still almost impossible to comprehend. People in Camden couldn't stop talking about it. At the local bar, longtime bartender

Carolyn Folk said, it's such a horrible tragedy. It was so shocking. Hailey Dunkelberger, a freshman nearby Kutztown University, echoed the unease spreading throughout the town. People are upset. I don't really think everyone knows how to cope with this. This is a small community. For whatever happens, I want justice, and soon justice would come. On the second of December

twenty nineteen, Lisa Snyder was arrested. She was charged with two counts of first and third degree murder, as well as two felony counts of endangering the welfare of children. For many in the community of Camden, the arrest didn't come as a surprise. Whispers had started almost as soon as the news had broken. Pop wore suspicious of Lisa's story, and now investigators were confirming what so many had feared.

There was no evidence that Connor had been bullied. Detectives had gone through everything his Skilled records, online accounts, even his Xbox. They spoke with teachers and classmates. Everybody said the same thing. Connor was a well liked boy. He had friends, He was kind, He wasn't isolated or depressed. Lisa had claimed he came home from s S Girl that day feeling down, But when detectives reviewed surveillance footage

from the Skill bus, they saw something different. Connor appeared happy, playful, even he was rough housing with another boy, the very boy Lisa had accused of bullying him. The pieces weren't adding up, and then came something even more disturbing. In the days leading up to the children's deaths, Lisa had been searching the Internet. She searched for carbon monoxide in a car? How Long to Die? I almost got away with the best episodes hanging Yourself? Does a hybrid car

produce carbon monoxide while idling? She even visited an instructional website that explained how to carry out a hanging using a short drop. This was the same hanging method used to kill Connor and Brinley, and on the very same day that Connor and Brindley died, Lisa had purchased the dog leash that would later be used in their deaths. It had a weight limit of two hundred and fifty pounds, far beyond what their fifty pound dog would have required.

But the investigation didn't stop there. When detectives looked deeper into Lisa's digital footprint, they discovered something truly depraved. In her Facebook messenger history, Lisa had been sending sexually explicit messages. She had engaged in sex acts with the family dog, and had taken photographs and sent those images to another person. Lisa Snyder was now facing additional charges felony, animal abuse and related defenses. Investigators also interviewed Lisa's cousin, who painted

a grim picture of Lisa's mental state. She said that Lisa had become depressed and that she was unable to get out of bed, and, most alarmingly, she said that Lisa told her she didn't care about her kids anymore. To her the children had become a burden. Lisa had also made a disturbing remark to a friend named Jessicas sion Empft. She told Jessica that if she were ever arrested, she'd likely be released on bale because she had no criminal history, but if that happened, she said she would

kill herself. Following her arrast, Lisa Snyder was denied bale. Prosecutors announced that if convicted, they were going to be seeking the death penalty. District Attorney John Adams then announced, this.

Speaker 2

Was a very difficult investigation. Any time that any of us have to investigate prosecute cases that involved the abuse or death of an innocent child, it all hits us in the heart.

Speaker 1

As the legal process unfolded, the people of Campden were left shaken. At Connor's elementary school, teachers in classmates decided to honor his memory and his sisters in the only way they could. They began collecting teddy bears. The plan was to donate the bears to Lehigh Valley Riley Children's Hospital, local fire departments, and other agencies that worked with children.

Melissa Blatt, one of the teachers, stated, obviously this whole situation has just rocked our whole community, our whole school. In just two weeks, the school collected more than three thousand, six hundred Teddy Bears while the community grave. Lisa's attorneys announced their legal strategy. They were minding an insanity defense. Her legal team claimed that Lisa had a chronic history of mental illness, including major depressive disorder with psychotic features,

anxiety effective disorder, and postpartum depression. At the time of the murders, they argued, Lisa was suffering from a severe and recurring form of depression, borderline personality disorder, and symptoms consistent with post traumatic stress disorder and disassociative identity disorder. According to our attorneys, Lisa's distorted thinking convinced her that her children were suffering, that they were being emotionally harmed

or abandoned. They claimed her mental illness created in her a twisted desire to protect her children from future pain, that she killed them not out of cruelty but delusion. But her legal team didn't want the jury to hear about everything. They asked the court to sever the animal abuse charges to keep the details of her sexual acts with the family dog out of the murder trial. They argued that it would prejudice the jury and the judge a great He ruled that the evidence of bestiality would

be tried separately. He said he could see no reason why a jury needed to hear about the acts unless it was to inflame them. Then, in November of twenty twenty three, something unexpected happened. Lisa Snyder in the prosecution reached a play agreement. Under the deal, Lisa had played no contest but mentally ill, to two counts of third degree murder. The plea would carry a sentence of twenty to forty years in prison. But when the plea was

presented to Judge Teresa Johnson, she rejected it. It doesn't serve the interests of justice, she said before walking out of the courtroom. That meant that the case was now proceeding to trial. Lisa Snyder would stand accused of first degree murder, the most serious charge possible. District Attorney Adams declined to explain why the plea deal had been offered in the first place, but in a phone interview, he said, we don't contest the fact that she's mentally ill and

meets the threshold set up under the law. That she is mentally ill. Still, in the eyes of the court, mental illness didn't erase the reality of what had happened in that basement. On the twenty first of September twenty and twenty four, Lisa Snyder was led into Burke's County court House by two police officers. She took a seat beside her defense attorneys. This wasn't going to be a trial by jury, Lisa had waived that right. Instead, she opted for a bench trial, one in which the judge

alone would decide her faith. That decision had major consequences. It meant that the death penalty was officially off the table. If convicted, Lisa Snyder would face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Opening statements painted two vastly different versions of what had happened on that September day in two thousand and nineteen. The prosecution laid out their case plainly. Lisa Snyder, they said, had murdered her two youngest children.

They described a calculated, deliberate act, one that was planned in advance, not the result of a mental breakdown. The defense, which was led by attorneys Dennis Charles, took a different approach. He told the court that the burden rested with the prosecution. If they could not definitively prove that Lisa had killed her children, then she must be found not guilty. But if they could, he said, the court must still consider her mental illness. Charles said to the judge, she has

no recollection of what she did. You have a history of a person who has severe mental illness. He described how Lisa had been sexually abused by a family member between the ages of five and seven. Why that trauma had followed her into adulthood, where she struggled with identity and abandonment. He said she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features, borderline personality disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. Lisa, he said, had tried to get help,

but the system had failed her. He revealed to the judge that Lisa had been having suicidal and homicidal thoughts about con her since he was just two years old. And then the testimony began. The court heard from the first responders. Paramedics described the horrifying scene in the basement. The lifeless bodies of two children suspended from a dog chain. The chairs they had allegedly stood on were shown to

the judge. It quickly became clear how implausible it was that an eight year old could have orchestrated what had happened. The prosecution then turned to Lisa's Internet search history. The judge was shown the disturbing phrases she had typed into Google just days before the murders. She had visited a website detailing how to commit suicide by hanging. She had looked up whether hybrid cars produced carbon monoxide while idling. She had watched episodes If I Almost Got Away with It.

School officials testified next. One by one. They painted a picture of a young boy who loved school, a boy who was cheerful, outgoing, and well liked by his classmates. He wasn't bullied, he wasn't depressed, He was thriving. An occupational therapist was brought in to address another crucial detail, physical capability. Could an eight year old boy rarely have manipulated a heavy judy dog leash, placed it over a basement support beam, lifted his four year old sister onto

a chair, and executed a double hanging. The therapist said, no, it wasn't physically plausible for a child Connor's age and size and with his physical disabilities. But perhaps the most impactful testimony came from someone who knew Connor and Brintley best, their older brother Owen. Owen took the stand with a quiet composure. He referred to Lisa by her full name and explained, I just don't see her as my mother anymore. Owen denied any suggestion that Connor was suicidal or depressed.

He told the court he was a happy, go lucky kid, always wanted to be doing something. He was always playing with his little sister. He wasn't the only one who said this. Family members testified that Connor had never mentioned billying. When asked about it, he didn't even seem to understand the question. Lisa's cousin, Jessica, described Connor as happy, playful, and full of life, but she also spoke about Lisa's struggles. She told the court that Lisa had frequent depressive episodes.

There were entire days sometimes longer, or she wouldn't get out of bed. Her ability to parent was inconsistent and often severely impaired. Finally, the prosecution played Lisa's NW one one call, the moment she claimed to have discovered her children hanging in the basement. They followed that with footage from her police interrogation. At one point, detectives asked her, point blank, did you have something to do with your children's deaths? Lisa responded no, I swear to God, I

had nothing to do with this. They were my world. I have no purpose now. After the prosecution rested its case, Lisa Snyder's defense attorney, Dennis Charles, made a bold move. He requested an immediate acquittal. He argued that the prosecution's case was based on speculation, not fact, that their version of events rested on Internet searches and circumstantial evidence on what might have happened, not what did happen. All you

have is conjecture, he told the court. Charles pointed to Lisa's search history not as a blueprint for murder, but as evidence of suicidal thoughts. He insisted that if Lisa had killed her children, it was the result of severe mental illness. She was, he said, incapable of understanding right from wrong. But the judge denied the motion and the trial moved forward. The defense then called Lisa's mother, Eileen Myers, to the witness stand. Eileen offered a version of events.

The contract predicted what teachers, classmates, and relatives had said. She testified that Conner had once told her he no longer wanted to live, that he'd asked what heaven was like, that he'd wondered if he'd recognize anybody there. It was a moment that could have shifted the narrative until cross examination, prosecutor Meg McCallum pressed Eileen on her memory. She told the court that Eileen had undergone brain surgery in the nineteen nineties to remove a tumor. Eileen admitted that she

still suffered confusion and memory issues as a result. She also acknowledged having discussed the trial with Lisa multiple times, including details from the police investigation. From there, the case returned to Lisa Snyder's mental health. Doctor Dungtran testified for the defense. He believed that Lisa's psychological decline stemmed from the sexual abuse she allegedly endured as a child. He said she had attempted suicide at sixteen and had led

ratic behavior throughout her life. He diagnosed her with bipolar disorder with psychotic fixtures, borderline personality disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. According to doctor Tran, Lisa believed not only that Connor was being bullied, but the Brindley had been sexually abused as well. He said that these delusions sent her into a psychotic break. During cross examination, doctor Tran admitted something critical Her mental state at the time of

the murders was, in his words, all speculation. The prosecution rebutted with their own expert, doctor John O'Brien. Doctor O'Brien said that Lisa had a history of anxiety and depression, but not bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, or borderline personality disorder. He said that he had found no signs of a psychotic break. He also pointed to a major contradiction during his interviews with Lisa. She never once mentioned being abused as a child, nor did she ever claim

that Brinley had been abused. In fact, he said that Lisa gave detailed and coherent accounts of what happened on the day her children died, hardly the mark of somebody experiencing a psychotic episode. He also noted that Lisa scored high on personality tests measuring exaggeration and deception. After weeks of testimony the trial, due to a close inclosing arguments, Prosecutor Macallum told the court, I cannot think of any crime more serious than the taking of a four year

old girl and an eight year old boy. She chose to harm her children, and they suffered as they hung by their necks, gasping for air. Prosecutor Kenneth Brown added a chilling theory, Lisa had only intended on killing Connor. She had seen him as a burden, but when Brinley came downstairs and witnessed what her mother was doing, Lisa had no choice but to kill her as well. He described Brinley urinating on herself in fe year as she card in the corner of the basement. In their closing,

the defense doubled down. Charles stated, what they want you to do is swallow what they've been feeding to the media. But it took Judge Teresa Johnson only an r to return with a verdict. She found Lisa Snyder guilty on two counts of first degree murder, as well as charges of child endangerment and evidence tampering. On the eighteenth of October, Lisa Snyder returned to court to be sentenced. Only one person stood to deliver a victim impact statement, Connor and

Brinley's older brother, Owen, he was twenty two. He was twenty two years old. Now, he stated, if I could turn back time, I would just to hear their voices. That day, I didn't just lose my brother and sister, I lost my mother as well. Then he turned to Lisa and said, since September twenty third, twenty nineteen, I don't consider you my mother. I consider you a monster. Judge Johnson then sentenced Lisa Snyder to two consecutive life

sentences without the possibility of parole. They would be followed by an additional eight to seventeen years for the remaining charges. Lisa showed no emotion before closing the proceedings. The judge then addressed her directly. She said, 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. Your only job in life was to protect and care

for your children. You failed. You robbed them of their futures. Then, with the sentence delivered, Lisa Snyder was escorted from the courtroom to begin her life sentence behind bars. Well that is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so much for listening, and i'd like to say a massive thank you to my new supporter up on Patreon, Stacy. I'm just about to record the next bonus episode of

Morbidology Plus that's exclusive to Patreon supporters. You can join the up on patroon for as little as one dollar a month and there are absolutely no obligations. You're free to cancel your subscription at any point. I upload adfree in early release episodes, behind the scenes bonus episodes of Morbidology Plus, and I also send out thank you card along with some cool Patreon exclusive merch. Remember to check us out at morbidology dot com for more information about

this episode and to read some true crime articles. Until next time, take care of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week. Sk

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