Date | January 18, 2003 |
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Location | Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
Type | Matricide |
Cause | Drowning made to look accidentally caused by alcohol intoxication |
Motive | Victim's neglectful parenting, financial |
Deaths | 1 |
Convicted | Victim's daughters |
Charges | First-degree murder |
Sentence | 10 years incarceration |
The victim and perpetrators' names cannot be reported by Canadian media under the Youth Criminal Justice Act |
The Bathtub Girls murder took place in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on January 18, 2003. Two sisters, whose identities along with the victims are protected under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) as they were minors at the time of the crime, conspired to murder their alcoholic, neglectful mother and make it appear as if she had accidentally drowned while taking a bath, in order to claim the insurance money. The death was not considered suspicious for almost a year.
Eleven months after the murder, a young male came forward to the police, informing them that one of the sisters said that the girls drowned their mother. Thus, an investigation began that included testimony gained when the young man was wired for audio and video, assessment of text messages and internet searches on a computer they owned, and interviews of their friends. The girls were arrested in January 2004. In late 2005, they went to trial and were convicted of first degree murder. In June 2006, they were sentenced to ten years, six years of incarceration and four years of community supervision, the maximum sentence for juveniles under the YCJA. Both have since completed their sentences and been released.