Virginia Woman Convicted of Murdering Daughters as Revenge Against Ex-Husband

A McLean, Virginia, woman was found guilty of killing her two daughters after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity despite a recorded confession.

The 37-year-old mother, Veronica Youngblood, was found guilty on Wednesday of the 2018 murders of her two children — Sharon Castro, 15, and Brooklynn Youngblood, 5 — as well as two counts of felony firearm use, the Washington Post reported.

The Post noted Youngblood previously confessed to the murders, admitting to shooting her daughters to police on camera in footage that was shown to the jurors. She, however, plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

WUSA 9 reported the jury in the case has recommended she be sentenced to 78 years in prison, which the judge presiding over the case will consider on September 22. 

“This case goes well beyond merely having a mental illness,” Fairfax County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kelsey Gill argued on Tuesday, per the Post. “This goes well beyond depression. This goes well beyond PTSD. This goes well beyond being suicidal.”

Gill said Youngblood had recently purchased a firearm and gave her daughters gummies infused with a sleep aid in preparation for the murders. She also argued Youngblood committed the murders as an act of revenge against her ex-husband, who was planning to move to Missouri with their youngest daughter, per the Post.

WUSA 9 reported Youngblood had called her ex-husband, Ron Youngblood, after the murders, “leaving a message that she’d killed the girls and that she hated him.”

She was cleared from the courtroom during her sentencing after having an outburst when the prosecution played the 911 call made by her 15-year-old daughter after being shot in the back and chest on the night of the murders, WTOP reported.

“I don’t wanna die,” Castro can be heard saying on the recording. “Please help me.”

The recording captured Castro telling the dispatcher her mother had shot her in the chest and pleading for help, indicating that her younger sister was in the house as well, per WTOP.