Pa. Mom Accused of Hanging 2 Kids Allegedly Researched Murder Methods, How to Get Away With It
In the days before the hanging deaths of her two young children, a Pennsylvania mother — now charged with murder — allegedly searched the Internet, researching hanging and carbon monoxide poisoning before further looking into ways to evade arrest.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams alleged investigators recovered evidence indicating Lisa Rachelle Snyder allegedly searched Google the day before her children were hanged, looking up the phrases “hanging yourself” and “how long to die” from carbon monoxide poisoning.
According to Adams, Snyder, 36, also searched the web to see if Hybrid cars emitted carbon monoxide.
Additionally, Adams alleged Snyder also visited a website with detailed instructions on ways to hang a person, and searched “almost got away with it,” which is the name of a true crime television series.
During Monday’s press conference, Adams said Snyder’s Samsung phone remains missing, but is believed to be the device she used to order a dog lead used in the killing of her youngest children — Conner Snyder, 8, and Brinley Snyder, 4.
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Adams alleges she picked the lead up at a nearby store hours before her children were found unconscious, hanging from the lead in her Albany Township home’s basement.
It is not clear how Snyder allegedly got her children in the position they were later found in.
On Monday, Snyder was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, tampering with evidence, endangering the welfare of children, animal cruelty and sexual intercourse with a dog, according to online records.
She is being held without bail.
Her attorney was unavailable for comment Monday.
Police previously had said the two young siblings were found on Sept. 23 by their mother, hanging from a basement support beam next to chairs that had been tipped over.
RELATED: Pa. Boy Found With Sister Near Death in Basement Was ‘Bullied,’ ‘Didn’t Want To Go Alone’: 911 Call
In audio obtained by the Morning Call of Allentown, dispatchers alert police to a 911 call from the mother.
The dispatcher can be heard informing the officers of the situation, saying that the mother told them Conner was “bullied” at school and “made threats of doing this” before.
As the audio continues, the dispatcher relays to responding officers that Conner had specified in his threats that he “didn’t want to go alone.”
RELATED: Mom Finds Son, 8, and Daughter, 4, Hanging From Basement Rafters With Chairs Tipped Over Nearby
Adams said detectives interviewed relatives, school officials, and Conner’s classmates, finding no evidence the boy ever complained of being bullied or had ever expressed a suicidal thought.
According to police, the mother said she’d returned to their home around 4:30 p.m., finding two dining room chairs tipped over on the floor near her children’s bodies.
The children were unconscious and in cardiac arrest when they were found, but medics revived them en route to the hospital. However, on Sept. 26, both children were removed from life support, dying within 14 minutes of each other.
It is unknown if Snyder was the one who signed off on removing them from life support systems.
Days after the children died, Snyder took to Facebook, updating her profile with a photo and the saying, “Words scar, rumors destroy, bullies kill.”
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Adams also said that an occupational therapist who was working with Conner at the time said he doubted the boy would have been able to commit the murder-suicide, noting he lacked the dexterity to operate the dog lead’s clasp.
According to Adams, Conner was incapable of tying his own shoes.
Snyder has not entered pleas to the charges against her.
