A 41-year-old woman from Kempton, Pennsylvania, Lisa Snyder, has been handed down a life sentence for the horrific murder of her two young children. The ruling was delivered by Judge M. Theresa Johnson of the Berks County Court of Common Pleas, who ordered Snyder to serve two consecutive life terms in a state correctional facility. The sentencing comes half a decade after Snyder used a dog leash to hang her children, Connor, 8, and Brinley, 4, from a beam in their home’s basement.
The verdict was reached after a seven-day bench trial in September, where Snyder was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. Alongside the murder charges, Snyder was also convicted of child endangerment and tampering with physical evidence. For these lesser charges, she was given an additional sentence of 8 1/2 to 17 years.
Authorities disclosed that Snyder had deliberately killed her children and attempted to stage the scene to make it look as though her son had killed his younger sister before taking his own life. On September 23, 2019, Snyder had dialed 911 to her Albany Township residence, where first responders found the children hanging from a beam above two toppled chairs.
First responders who arrived at the scene testified that Snyder appeared “very anxious” and “very nervous.” The children were airlifted to a hospital and placed on life support, but tragically, they died from their injuries three days later.
Snyder later alleged that her son had expressed suicidal thoughts due to bullying and fear of dying alone. However, this claim was refuted by several witnesses who stated that the boy always seemed happy and would never have harmed himself or his sister.
In the week following the children’s deaths, Snyder texted a friend stating that she needed “two strong drinks.” The friend testified that during their drinking session, Snyder confessed that she anticipated being arrested. She also admitted to using her son’s Google profile to conduct internet searches about suicide.
Investigators found that Snyder had searched for hanging methods and had ordered the dog leash used in the murders a day before the children’s deaths. She had also searched for information on suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning and watched episodes of the true crime series “I Almost Got Away With It.” A plea deal that would have allowed Snyder to plead no contest but mentally ill to charges of third-degree murder was rejected by a judge last year.