A mother and a daughter killed two of their family members and attempted to kill one more using antifreeze poisons. All of these were uncovered after a pastor of the mother tipped officials she was acting strangely when her husband passed away and staff at the hospital added that when she visited the third person she attempted to kill, she was laughing and talked about vacationing in Florida.
People reported that the mother and daughter duo, Diane Staudte and Rachel Staudte respectively, killed the father of the family as well as Rachel's brother. One more sister was attempted to be killed but survived. The pastor of the church that Diane was attending called the cops on her after he believed there was something off because after Diane's husband, Mark, fell ill and died, the same thing happened to her son, Shaun, months after.
Mark died on an Easter Sunday in 2012 and his death was said to be due to natural causes. However, there was lack of emotion on the part of Diane making the pastor suspicious. The former bandmate of Mark, Rob Macuso, added that when the memorial service was held for the father of the family, Diane acted like she was hosting a party and there was no sadness.
As for Shaun's death, there was also little to no emotion from Diane after he died due to suffering from seizures. It was ruled that he died due to medical causes. There was no memorial service for Shaun, who died five months after his father passed away.
A month after Shaun died, Diane's second youngest daughter, Rachel, took to Facebook to say, "Don't think I've seen mom so chilled out like this in a long time." Later, the other daughter of Diane, 24-year-old Sarah, was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, which was what Shaun and Mark also had before they died. However, when she was in the hospital, it was ruled that she was having organ failure.
Diane was then arrested and charged with murdering her husband and son and trying to kill Sarah. She confessed that she placed antifreeze in their drinks. Rachel, on the other hand, confessed to helping her mother poison her father, brother, and sister, Independent Journal Review reported.
Diane was sentenced to life in prison without parole earlier this year. Rachel was sentenced to two life terms but is eligible for parole after 42 and a half years.
