Woman Poisoned Father, Stabbed and Bludgeoned Mother and Kept Bodies Hidden in Home for 4 Years

Mar. 15, 2025

Virginia McCullough murdered parents Lois McCullough and John McCullough in 2019 and lived with their bodies for four years.Photo:Essex Police Department

Essex Police Department

A U.K. woman will spend life behind bars for murder after she poisoned her father, fatally stabbed and beat her mother and lived beside both of their bodies for several years.

On Friday, Oct. 11, Virginia McCullough was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison for killing her parents, Lois and John McCullough. The sentencing comes nearly a year after police began investigating their deaths, according toEssex Police.

Last September, following a long stretch of missed appointments and prescriptions, the couple’s doctor became worried and alerted authorities. Essex Police launched a missing persons case, which led them to Virginia, now 36, who lived with the couple in their Great Baddow home.

Virginia McCullough.Essex Police Department

Suspicious, authorities searched the couple’s home, where Virginia “instantly confessed to officers that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them,” police said.

“I did know that this would kind of come eventually, and it’s proper that I serve my punishment,” Virginia told police as they searched the home, per the BBC.

She also told officers, “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy,” and noted that serving time “might give me a bit of peace.”

It was later discovered that Virginia murdered her parents during the summer of 2019, police said. Though post-mortem examinations uncovered prescription medication in both Lois and John’s bodies, it was determined that only John died from poisoning.

“When I was hitting her it was like someone badly playing the xylophone,” Virginia said of the fatal beating, per the BBC. “It was willy-nilly.”

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Investigators later learned that Virginia’s motive was money. She had “long manipulated and abused her parents’ goodwill for financial gain,” running up debts on credit cards in their names and spending their pensions after murdering them, according to police.

Lois McCullough and John McCullough.Essex Police Department

“The details of this case shock and horrify even the most experienced of murder detectives, let alone any right-thinking member of the public,” the detective superintendent wrote. “It therefore follows that the wider family of John and Lois, understandably, could never have guessed or anticipated that McCullough would be capable of undertaking these murders before committing herself to this level of deceit.”

The family of Lois and John — who were ages 71 and 70, respectively, at the time of their deaths — also released a statement following Virginia’s Oct. 11 sentencing.

“Our family has been left devastated and heartbroken at the deaths of our parents who were taken from us so cruelly,” the statement reads. “As we try to move forward with our lives, we will remember the happy times we enjoyed with them.”

“Our Mum and Dad are forever in our hearts, and are loved and missed beyond any measure,” the statement concludes. “We request privacy as we continue to grieve the loss of our dear parents.”

source: people.com