Pennsylvania Man Who Murdered Mom and Took Selfies With Her Body Gets 20 Years in Plea Deal

David Sumney Margaret Sumney Margaret Sumney Murder

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald Nov 20, 10:22 am

A man from Pennsylvania was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his mom and taking selfies with her dead body. The victim's family was outraged, slamming the plea deal that David Sumney was offered.

According to the Daily Beast, the 33-year-old was accused of torturing his 67-year-old mother, Margaret Sumney, and murdering her back in August 2019 in the bathroom of her home at South Lafayette.

The son even documented his gruesome crime by snapping a total of 277 photos, including multiple selfies that featured blood smeared on David's face and his mother's body.

Sumney secures controversial plea deal

Sumney managed to secure a plea deal back in August, dismissing charges of first-degree murder as well as abuse of a corpse. He copped only to a single count of third-degree murder, according to the media outlet.

Sumney has been locked up behind bars since 2019, meaning he could be released in as little as 17 years. Sumney made a groveling apology during a hearing at Allegheny County Court on Thursday for his heinous crime, which left his mother with a spinal fracture, lacerations on her face, fractured ribs, and contusions on her body.

He sniveled in front of his family and the judge that he cannot believe he would let himself get in such a state where he could do something so bad and so horrible, according to the New York Post.

He added that he cannot believe what he did, that he killed his own mother. He said that he cannot stop thinking about it and that he thinks about it every day. He said sorry for handling things as badly as a person could have, apologizing specifically to his family, his sisters, and his aunts.

Family outraged with Sumney's sentence

Sumney added that he knows it is impossible for them to forgive him as he does not forgive himself either. He just wanted to let them know that he is truly sorry. Defense attorney Chris Patterini asked for a sentence of seven years in the slammer for his client, telling the judge that Sumney expressed remorse for the murder and blaming his actions on alcohol and drug use.

Sumney's half-sister Ellen addressed the murderer in court via Zoom, telling him that he broke their mother's back and that he paralyzed her. She told him that he just beat her and beat her and the blood was splattered along the walls. The sickest part for Ellen, though, is the 277 photos. She said that a person only takes pictures if he wants to go back and see what he did.

Ellen said that their mother gave David everything she had and when she did not have anything else to give, he killed her. She said she had no idea he was this kind of monster and she is still upset he was not prosecuted to the fullest as this was first-degree murder, according to People Magazine.