Donna Scuderi St Peters, Missouri mother strangles depressed daughter and then proceeds to cut own neck only to survive botched suicide pact. Charged w/ first degree murder.
A St. Charles County, Missouri mother strangled her 39-year-old daughter and slit her own throat in an apparent botched suicide pact, authorities have announced.
Donna Scuderi, 69, of St Peters, told police she gave pills to daughter Laura Scuderi to overdose on Friday — then put a bag over Laura’s head and strangled her with a cord once she was unconscious, KMOV reported.
Her daughter had been depressed and wanted to die, with the mother in turn looking up suicide on her computer according to court documents.
St. Peters Police Department charged Scuderi with first degree murder, according to a release from police on Tuesday.
Donna Scuderi’s husband, who was not identified, came home Friday and worked in the basement unaware that his wife and daughter were home until he went upstairs and saw the carnage.
Mental health crises
When police arrived, they found the daughter dead and mother in the bathroom, breathing but unconscious and bleeding from her neck, police said.
Donna Scuderi was treated at the hospital but didn’t wake up until two days later, according to The St. Louis Post Dispatch.
A doctor asked if the mom knew why she was there according to court documents.
‘Euthanasia,’ Donna Scuderi is stated to have responded.
‘How’s my daughter? I’m sorry. I’m sorry, what’s going to happen?’ she asked.
Scuderi told cops allegedly trying to commit suicide by putting a bag over her head, only to fail. Afterwards, she grabbed some knives from the kitchen, went back upstairs and slit and cut her throat in the bathroom before blacking out.
Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar said he he had never seen a case similar to the mother and daughter’s in his nine years in office.
‘The first thing that jumps out at you is what sort of mental health crises were two people going through together for something like this happen?’ Lohmar told via KMOV.
The mother remains jailed on a $200,000 bond.
