Mount Vernon woman found guilty of plot to kill ex-husband

She tried to convince her child to kill his father by adding rat poison to his food and drink.

  • By Wire Service
  • Friday, April 16, 2021 12:34pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

MOUNT VERNON — A Mount Vernon woman was found guilty of solicitation to commit murder after a jury found she had tried to convince her child to kill his father by adding rat poison to his food and drink.

37-year-old Vanessa Valdiglesias-Lavalle was also found guilty last week of solicitation to commit first-degree assault with a noxious substance, The Skagit Valley Herald reported.

During the 2½-day trial, Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich asserted that Valdiglesias-Lavalle and her ex-husband were in the midst of a divorce in which Valdiglesias-Lavalle had lost custody of their two sons and by mid-2020 had to pay her ex-husband child support.

During a visit with her sons on June 3, 2020, the older boy recorded his mother saying he could kill his father by putting “venom” or rat poison into his food and drink.

Valdiglesias-Lavalle told her son that once his father was dead, she and the boys would be able to live together forever, prosecutors said.

Valdiglesias-Lavalle faces 15 years in prison with the opportunity to earn early release.

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