Contact: Beth Stone 508-584-8120
BROCKTON – A Brockton woman was sentenced today for brutally stabbing her two young sons to death, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced.
This morning in Plymouth Superior Court, Latarsha L. Sanders 48, was sentenced to serve two Mandatory Life Terms Without the Possibility of Parole in the deaths of Edson “Marlon” Brito, 8, and La’son Brito, 5. Judge William Sullivan additionally sentenced Sanders to serve 9-10 years in State Prison, to run concurrent, on a charge of Witness Intimidation. Today’s sentencing followed a 9-day trial culminating in guilty verdicts from a jury yesterday.
“These two young boys were innocent babies with their lives ahead of them,” DA Cruz said. “This was an emotional and difficult case for all of the family members involved. There were no winners in the courtroom today.”
On February 5, 2018, at approximately 12:07 p.m., Brockton Police received a 911 call for a medical emergency at 247 Prospect Street. Brockton Fire and emergency medical personnel responded and found Sanders outside the address, distraught and combative. EMS transported Sanders for medical evaluation, and Brockton Police proceeded to secure Sanders’s third floor apartment. There, they found the two boys wrapped in bedding. The children had each been stabbed multiple times and were determined to be deceased on scene. Brockton Police contacted State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office, and a homicide investigation commenced.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the manner of deaths to be homicide and cause of death to be multiple stab wounds.
Investigators conducted multiple interviews with people associated with the victims. Sanders made statements to investigators that the killings were part of a ritualistic incident. Sanders cleaned up the children, placed them in beds, and mopped up the crime scene. Sanders never sought medical attention for the boys. Massachusetts State Police located a kitchen knife left in the sink that was determined to be the murder weapon.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Amanda Fowle, and was investigated by Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office and Brockton Police.