Woman convicted of murder after admitting to choking her mother to death
A woman was found guilty of second-degree murder after she confessed to police that she choked her mother to death last year.
Cassandra Anne Dusold, 35, was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of her mother on Aug. 4.
She was released from prison on Tuesday after she agreed to appear for her sentencing on the morning of Oct. 2, 2023.
Court documents show the trial was bifurcated in order to determine the defendant’s guilt or innocence and not her mental illness or deficiency defense.
A mental evaluation was ordered back in June.
She faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
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Court documents state that Cassandra Dusold called 911 on Wednesday just before 12:30 p.m. to report a woman who was not breathing at a home in Livery Lane in New Market Township.
First responders arrived and began giving aid to the woman, whom Dusold identified as her mother, 69-year-old Dorothy Dusold. The victim was found lying face up alongside a bed with no pulse.
Casandra Dusold spoke to a deputy at the scene and said she heard a thud when her mother was in another room.
The criminal complaint states that Cassandra Dusold later said she did not initially tell the full story and admitted she had put her mother in a chokehold.
Cassandra DuSold said her mother attacked her, showing police scratches on her bicep.
However, she recanted the part of her story saying she heard a thud in the other room, saying “I’m the thud.”
When speaking with detectives, Cassandra Dusold said she put her arm around her mother’s neck and “squeezed like a python so hard it made her ribs hurt.”
Cassandra Dusold also told police that when she realized her mother was bleeding, she called 911. She said she feels bad about what happened, adding that “it’s not right what transpired, it’s not right at all,” and that she “fully knows right from wrong.”
Investigators note that during their interview, Cassandra Dusold spoke in a “confusing and tangential manner” and that she “often rambles, makes vague references to past events, or speaks in generalities.”
Dorothy Dusold suffered bruises around her face and head and was bleeding from her right ear when medics found her. She was taken to Fairview Ridges Hospital and placed on a ventilator, but she had “little to no brain function” and was taken off life support once a series of tests determined she was brain dead.
Dorothy Dusold was pronounced dead days later.