In November 2013, the town of Chesapeake, Virginia, experienced a shocking tragedy. Rachel Hutson, a 19-year-old, killed her mother while her father was out shopping and then rang him to admit to what she had done.
Rachel was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2015. Since then, she has met with her dad and sister Sarah, expressing remorse for her actions and thanking them for coming to see her. While they said that they still didn’t forgive Rachel for what happened, they’re trying to move forward. It’s difficult to do this without a core member of their family.
Rachel Hutson: Where Is She Today? What Happened To Her?
In 2013, Rachel Leigh Hutson was a normal 19-year-old girl who lived with her family in Chesapeake in the US state of Virginia. But that changed when, on Thanksgiving, Rachel shot her 58-year-old mother, Susan Lee, killing her. It shocked everyone.
Her dad was out of the house at the time, doing some Black Friday shopping. Rachel texted him a picture of his wife’s dead body and even called him to admit to what she had done. At first, he didn’t believe his daughter, but he later realized the truth that his daughter had just killed his wife.
Rachel Hutson (Credit – NYPost)
After pleading guilty to first-degree murder, Rachel Hutson was sent to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia, for 18 years. Her sentence began in late 2015, which means she will be in prison for a large part of her life.
Why did Rachel Hutson kill her mother?
Rachel explained the motivation behind her choice to kill her mother in an interview with Doctor Phil Snow. In that interview, she revealed that life at home was very difficult. She said that her relationship with her father was fraught, and because Susan Lee was suffering from congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and diabetes, Rachel would often have to take care of her, and reportedly has done so since she was nine years old.
Speaking to Doctor Phil on the Doctor Phil Show, Rachel explained that she and her dad had been fighting the night before the murder.
“My dad called me into his room, and he asked me what I was still doing up. I told him I had been on the computer, and we started arguing. I remember, just at that point, it felt like nothing was ever going to get better, nothing was ever going to change, it was always going to be stress all the time,” she said.
“I knew things weren’t going to get better once my mom passed. I knew I had bad years ahead of me,” Rachel added.
Rachel’s initial plan was to kill her mother and then turn the gun on herself, but she said she didn’t go through with that for the sake of her father.
Rachel’s sister Sarah testified in court that Rachel would have “fits of rage.” Sarah also explained that she believed that Rachel was suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness.
On the show, Rachel expressed remorse for her actions. She got the chance to see her father and sister for the first time since the trial, with both family members saying that it would take time for them to forgive her for what happened.
In November 2015, Rachel admitted to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. This means that she will be released sometime in late 2033. Rachel was 21 when she was sentenced to jail, meaning she will be 39 when she lives in prison.
More True Crime Stories:
