Death penalty sought in children’s hangings
Berks County prosecutors said Thursday that they will seek the death penalty against a mother charged in the hanging deaths of her son and daughter.
Lisa R. Snyder, 37, of Albany Township is charged with two counts each of first-degree and third-degree murder along with related counts in the killings of her two youngest children.
Her son Conner, 8, and daughter Brinley, 4, were found hanging and unresponsive in the basement of their home at 2442 Route 143 on Sept. 23. They were revived on their way to the hospital, but both were pronounced brain dead, taken off life support three days later and died, officials said. In Snyder’s formal arraignment before Judge Paul M. Yatron she pleaded not guilty and was returned to the county prison, where she’s been held without bail since her arrest Dec. 2.
In filing to seek the death penalty, prosecutors said the crimes meet the threshold of aggravating factors required in Pennsylvania for a capital case.
The primary aggravating factors are that there were two victims and both were children, District Attorney John T. Adams said.
“The decision to seek the death penalty was not made lightly, but we decided there was overwhelming evidence of the aggravating factors,” he said.
“The decision to seek the death penalty was not made lightly, but we decided there was overwhelming evidence of the aggravating factors.” — District Attorney John T. Adams
According to police, court records and testimony at Snyder’s preliminary hearing:
Police and medics were called to the home by Snyder and they found the children hanging from opposite ends of a plastic coated dog lead that had been wrapped around the main support beam of the basement ceiling.
Each end of the lead was wrapped around the victims’ necks. Two chairs were tipped over on the floor on either side of the bodies, which were about 3 feet apart.
When Snyder spoke with first responders she wasn’t crying, and told them that Conner was being bullied at school, appeared stressed when he got off the school bus that day, and asked her for the dog lead before going into the basement with his sister.
Other witnesses contradicted her claims that Conner was depressed.
Conner’s occupational therapist said the boy wasn’t physically capable of fastening the dog lead around his own neck, let alone his sister’s.
Internet searches from a number connected to a missing phone of Snyder’s showed internet searches for how to hang oneself with a “short drop, single suspension.”
Her online accounts also showed photos of her forcing a dog to perform sex acts on her, so she was also charged with bestiality and cruelty to animals.