Overview
- Vanessa Collias, 27, pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 to two counts of second-degree murder in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto.
- A judge imposed a life sentence with parole eligibility after 18 years following a joint submission by the Crown and defense.
- Initial first-degree charges were reduced after court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. Sumeeta Chatterjee diagnosed Collias with an adjustment disorder linked to her husband’s Dec. 1, 2023 death.
- Police say the boys, ages 4 and 5, were suffocated on Dec. 10, 2023, and investigators found notes, funeral clothing, a photo of their father and a cross near their bodies.
- Collias survived a balcony fall and is now paraplegic, and an autopsy found the children were healthy with no signs of prior physical abuse.