A woman in  was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison after being accused of stabbing and beheading her five-year-old daughter, back in 2017. 27-year-old, Krystle Villanueva, was officially sentenced by a Hays County judge and jury this past Thursday (March 5) in connection to the death of her daughter, Giovanna Hernandez. The adolescent girl was reportedly murdered by her mother at their home in Kyle,  located approximately 20 miles southwest of Austin. 

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In 2017, Villanueva was arrested after police were called to the home she shared with her daughter Giovanna, Giovanna’s father, and his parents. The prosecutors claim that the young mother told 911 operators that she killed and mutilated her daughter’s body after she “asked for cereal.” According to AP News, Villanueva was also found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing of the five-year-old’s grandfather.

Krystle Villanueva’s defense attorney attempted to claim that she was clinically insane which should have garnered her a not guilty verdict. Her lawyer, Carlos Garcia, released a statement to The Associated Press on Friday (March 6) declaring his client suffered from psychosis for a multitude of years. In court, Garcia stated that on the day of the attack and beheading, Villanueva believed that her family had been taken over by clones.

Prior to Villanueva’s official verdict, the Austin American-Statesmen revealed that the authorities had previously only told the media and general public that the child’s body had been ‘mutilated.’ But now, with Villanueva officially locked up behind bars for life without parole, they revealed her horrendous crime to the masses as one of the most brutal and unnecessary murders of this current generation.    

Check out the clip from Texas’ NBC KXAN in the video provided below.