WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A woman from Lycoming County has admitted to starving her two children to death.
Marie Snyder admitted to the killing of her 4- and 6-year-old daughters, Nicole and Jasmine Snyder, between 2016 and 2017. In court, she said the people she was living with were also accomplices.
Snyder, 32, of Lycoming County, appeared in court Monday to plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
Last fall, investigators discovered the human remains of both Snyder's daughters buried behind a property on Livermore Road in Hepburn Township, north of Williamsport.
Snyder admitted that she and her partner, Echo Butler, starved the two girls to death and buried them behind their trailer home.
Snyder went on to say that Butler was the one calling the shots, and the two had a premeditated understanding to starve the children.
Snyder also admitted that the children were subjected to constant physical and verbal abuse when they were alive.
The commonwealth recently filed a request to seek the death penalty against Snyder, but the plea deal will allow her to serve two life sentences instead.
Snyder also pleaded guilty to making false statements and theft by deception. She was accused of obtaining nearly $70,000 of child benefits after the children had already died.
Snyder's sentencing has been delayed until after her coconspirator's trial.
Echo's mother, Michele Butler, is also charged with third-degree murder in the girls' deaths.
Ronald Butler, her father, faces child endangerment and obstruction charges.
Butler has decided to take her case to trial. Snyder will have to testify against her partner as part of her plea agreement. That trial has not been scheduled.
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