The next several decades will be spent in prison for a lady who killed her parents, hid them in “makeshift tombs” at their home, and then feasted on their money for years.
According to a press statement released by the Essex Police Department in east England on Friday, Virginia McCullough, 36, was given a sentence that would require her to serve at least 36 years in prison before she is eligible for release.
But her guilt was always certain by the time the murderer was captured. When she was eventually apprehended, she freely acknowledged committing the crime and even seemed to enjoy the most recent bad turn of events.
The murderess told police officers in September 2023, “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy. I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
Authorities say that in June 2019, the now-convicted lady killed her father, John McCullough, 70, by poisoning him with a lethal combination of prescription drugs. After being gathered over several months, the tablets were broken up or crushed and then poured into alcoholic drinks.
Virginia McCullough made the decision that her mother should pass away as well, albeit in a far less covert manner, the day after her father passed away. She killed 71-year-old Lois McCullough by stabbing her after beating her with a hammer.
The woman lived with her late parents for the next forty-plus years.
Virginia McCullough buried her father’s body in a mausoleum “composed with masonry blocks stacked together” following his highly publicized murder, according to prosecutor Lisa Wilding’s remarks, which were obtained by the cable news network Sky News in London. Her father’s previous study became the grave, and the murderer covered it with “multiple blankets, and a number of pictures and paintings.”
The prosecutor claimed that the elder woman’s body had been wrapped in a sleeping bag and hidden inside a wardrobe in an upper room of the family home.
“McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address,” Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Nicola Rice stated. “She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parent’s money and accruing large debts in their name.”
Finally, in September 2023, the couple’s physician voiced concerns. This sparked an inquiry by the police, which resulted in the arrest of their daughter. In July, she entered a guilty plea on two murder charges.
The murderer “told persistent lies” about her parents’ location in the years after the killings but before the arrests, according to the police. She informed doctors and family members that the couple was ill and frequently canceled vacations and other lengthy trips.
The two killings and the ensuing cover-ups, according to the police, were committed “on a shocking and monumental scale” and entailed “vast levels of deceit, betrayal, and fraud.”
John McCullough’s doctor finally raised the alarm after he neglected to take many prescriptions and keep multiple appointments.
Investigations into missing persons followed.
Virginia McCullough first told authorities that her parents would be back the next month. Instead of waiting, the police used their “powers” to break into the family’s home in Chelmsford’s Pump Hill district, where they ultimately perished.
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“McCullough was the sole occupant and instantly confessed to officers that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them,” police stated. “Documents found at the property showed she had run up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names. After their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions.”
According to a BBC courtroom report, the judge stated during her sentencing that a life sentence was the only choice available for the admitted, convicted killer.
The killer was chastised by law enforcement, who also noted the suffering her acts had caused the relatives of the victims. In a statement, the killer’s siblings also expressed their affection for their parents as people and as the devoted pair they were.
