Elderly Mother Over Doses Depressed Daughter, Strangles Her To Death Before Slitting Own Throat

A 69-year-old mother sedated her adult daughter then strangled her to death before slitting her own throat.

Donna Scuderi of St. Peters in the US state of Missouri was charged Tuesday, May 18, with first-degree murder for the death of her 39-year-old daughter, Laura Scuderi.

On Friday, Donna’s husband got home from work and found their daughter lying unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom.

A close inspection revealed signs of strangulation and suffocation. Multiple pill bottles were also found scattered in the room, according to police.

The man found his wife in a nearby bathroom, heavily bleeding from a severe cut to her neck.

Emergency services responded to the home and pronounced Laura dead at the scene.

Donna was rushed to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries. She remained unconscious in the hospital for more than a day, police said.

She woke up on Sunday and spoke to the nurses. The attending medical staff told police that Donna asked about her daughter, and said she was sorry for what is to come.

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, when a doctor asked Donna if she knew why she was there, she reportedly replied, "euthanasia".

A St. Peters police detective sat by her bed and inquired about what happened. The detective reported that Donna communicated using "head nods and verbal confirmation."

Donna told the investigator that she and her daughter decided to end their life. She said she researched suicide to help her depressed daughter end her pain.

Police said Donna intentionally overdosed Laura with the pills. When she became unconscious, the accused put a bag over the victim’s head and strangled her with a cord.

Donna told the detective that she attempted to kill herself using a bag but failed. She then grabbed a kitchen knife and slit her throat in the bathroom, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Donna is facing murder charges and is currently being held on a $200,000 cash-only bond.

No updates were available about her current health condition.