- Joined
- Feb 25, 2013
- Messages
- 45,185
- Reaction score
- 463,652
Albany Township mother researched suicide, murder before her 2 children were found hanged, police say
The affidavit of probable cause details a tragic story that, through the initial words and actions of Snyder, appeared to be of a young boy so shaken by constant bullying that he killed himself, taking his little sister with him. But with Snyder's arrest, the tale the mother of three was telling appears to be fiction.
According to court documents:
At about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 Snyder called 9-1-1, reporting that Conner and Brinley were found hanging, unresponsive, in the basement of her home. Two emergency medical technicians from Kempton Fire Department arrived about 10 minutes later and saw the children hanging about 3 feet apart from each other, a wire cable dog lead with vinyl coating wrapped around each of their necks.
The lead was also wrapped around the main support beam in the basement. Two wooden, bar-height dinning room chairs were below the children, knocked over on their sides.
Conner and Brinley were rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital by ambulance. They had been resuscitated on the way there and, once at the hospital, were placed on life support in the pediatric intensive care unit. Both were pronounced dead by the Lehigh County coroner's office on Sept. 26.
Snyder was interviewed twice by members of the state police criminal investigations unit at Hamburg. She told investigators that Conner had been bullied and that he had told her several times that he wanted to die.
Snyder said she didn't know the exact details of the bullying, but indicated it was because of his weight and struggles in schools.
"He doesn't say much because he knows that I will call the school," Snyder told investigators. "He is overweight, has a speech delay, he needs the extra help, a little slower to grasp things, kids make fun of him because he's fat. He has lost 25 pounds since school has started because he was starving himself."
Snyder told investigators that her son had been bullied since first grade, and that when he comes home "he's just angry."
Things had gotten so bad, Snyder said, that he had tried to kill himself. She told investigators that she had spoken to him about it the previous week.
"And I told him, 'Honey, if you ever feel like hurting yourself please come to me,' " she told investigators. "He did say to me when we were talking, 'I woulda killed myself already, but I am scared to go by myself.' "
Snyder said she thought that's why Conner had Brinley with him, so that they could go together.
On the day of the hanging, Conner had come home from school and, after being unable to find the charger for his laptop computer, decided he wanted to go down to the basement and build a fort with his sister, Snyder said. Conner asked if he could use two of the kitchen chairs in the fort, and also asked to use a brand-new dog lead Snyder had bought earlier that day, she added.
Conner carried both of the heavy chairs downstairs by himself, Snyder said. It was pretty common for Conner and Brinley to play in the basement, she said.
Snyder told investigators she went outside to let her dog out and to have a cigarette. When she came back in about 10 minutes later, she headed to the basement to ask her kids if they wanted frozen pizza or Chef Boyardee for dinner.
She said that's when she found Conner and Brinley hanging from the beam. She said she tried to lift Brinley and remove the dog lead, but she was sweating profusely from anxiety and couldn't. She then tried to lift Conner, but couldn't.
Snyder told investigators she then ran upstairs to call 9-1-1.
Investigators almost immediately began finding holes in Snyder's story.
The affidavit of probable cause details a tragic story that, through the initial words and actions of Snyder, appeared to be of a young boy so shaken by constant bullying that he killed himself, taking his little sister with him. But with Snyder's arrest, the tale the mother of three was telling appears to be fiction.
According to court documents:
At about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 Snyder called 9-1-1, reporting that Conner and Brinley were found hanging, unresponsive, in the basement of her home. Two emergency medical technicians from Kempton Fire Department arrived about 10 minutes later and saw the children hanging about 3 feet apart from each other, a wire cable dog lead with vinyl coating wrapped around each of their necks.
The lead was also wrapped around the main support beam in the basement. Two wooden, bar-height dinning room chairs were below the children, knocked over on their sides.
Conner and Brinley were rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital by ambulance. They had been resuscitated on the way there and, once at the hospital, were placed on life support in the pediatric intensive care unit. Both were pronounced dead by the Lehigh County coroner's office on Sept. 26.
Snyder was interviewed twice by members of the state police criminal investigations unit at Hamburg. She told investigators that Conner had been bullied and that he had told her several times that he wanted to die.
Snyder said she didn't know the exact details of the bullying, but indicated it was because of his weight and struggles in schools.
"He doesn't say much because he knows that I will call the school," Snyder told investigators. "He is overweight, has a speech delay, he needs the extra help, a little slower to grasp things, kids make fun of him because he's fat. He has lost 25 pounds since school has started because he was starving himself."
Snyder told investigators that her son had been bullied since first grade, and that when he comes home "he's just angry."
Things had gotten so bad, Snyder said, that he had tried to kill himself. She told investigators that she had spoken to him about it the previous week.
"And I told him, 'Honey, if you ever feel like hurting yourself please come to me,' " she told investigators. "He did say to me when we were talking, 'I woulda killed myself already, but I am scared to go by myself.' "
Snyder said she thought that's why Conner had Brinley with him, so that they could go together.
On the day of the hanging, Conner had come home from school and, after being unable to find the charger for his laptop computer, decided he wanted to go down to the basement and build a fort with his sister, Snyder said. Conner asked if he could use two of the kitchen chairs in the fort, and also asked to use a brand-new dog lead Snyder had bought earlier that day, she added.
Conner carried both of the heavy chairs downstairs by himself, Snyder said. It was pretty common for Conner and Brinley to play in the basement, she said.
Snyder told investigators she went outside to let her dog out and to have a cigarette. When she came back in about 10 minutes later, she headed to the basement to ask her kids if they wanted frozen pizza or Chef Boyardee for dinner.
She said that's when she found Conner and Brinley hanging from the beam. She said she tried to lift Brinley and remove the dog lead, but she was sweating profusely from anxiety and couldn't. She then tried to lift Conner, but couldn't.
Snyder told investigators she then ran upstairs to call 9-1-1.
Investigators almost immediately began finding holes in Snyder's story.
