Virginia, 36, confessed to murdering her parents

Virginia McCullough poisoned her 70-year-old father and stabbed her 71-year-old mother.

For four years, she kept the bodies hidden in a “homemade mausoleum”.

– Don’t look so sad. You have found your killer, said the daughter when the police stormed the family home.

John and Lois McCullough from Essex in England stopped responding to their friends in June 2019. Relatives, neighbors and acquaintances also say that contact with the couple ended suddenly.

Daughter Virginia McCullough, 36, firmly claimed for several years that the parents were on long trips, got sick and then moved.

Now she has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the double murder of her parents, reports Sky News.

– I deserve to be punished, said Virginia McCullough when she was arrested – four years after the murders.

“A bit complicated”

In September 2023, a doctor tipped off the police that John and Lois McCullough had failed to show up for their scheduled medical appointments.

That led to the patrol being called to the couple’s home. The police’s body cameras then captured how they broke open the couple’s door – after no one answered when they knocked.

But to their surprise, the patrol is met by the couple’s daughter Virginia McCullough – who immediately confessed to murdering her parents.

– My father’s body is in there, said the 36-year-old, referring to his father’s bedroom.

The patrol then asked what happened to the mother:

– It is a little more complicated. Upstairs there are approximately five wardrobes. Check the one behind the bed near the sink, Virginia McCullough replied.

Hammer and kitchen knife

According to the prosecutor, Virginia McCullough first murdered her father. She crushed prescription medicine and mixed the powder into his drinks.

Only the next day she attacked her mother with a hammer and a kitchen knife, reports say The Guardian.

Shortly after the daughter confessed to the patrol, she told the police where they could find the knife.

– It is under the stairs. It still has blood on it. It is rusty, but it will still have blood on it, she says.

Hiding the mother in a sleeping bag

Prosecutors said during the trial that John McCullough’s body was found in what looked like a “homemade mausoleum.” The daughter had wrapped the father’s body in blankets and placed photos and paintings on him.

Mother Lois McCullough was found in a closet in her bedroom. During questioning by the police, the daughter told how she attacked her mother.

– She looked so innocent. She was facing away from me and listening to the radio.

During the preliminary investigation, Virginia McCullough said that for several months she wanted to kill her parents – ever since March 2019.

According to the prosecutor, the motive is money. Virginia McCullough allegedly gambled online. In total, she allegedly gambled away almost SEK 300,000 between June 1, 2018 and September 14, 2023.

Furthermore, the prosecutor believes that Virginia McCullough murdered her parents because she previously stole money from them – and to be able to receive their pension money.

Which, according to The Guardian, is almost two million kroner. But the prosecutor has not been able to prove exactly what she did with the money.

– I’m sure the motive was to prevent your parents from discovering that you had stolen from them, lied to them. And taking money that was meant for them, the judge said as Virginia McCullough was sentenced to at least 36 years in prison.