A divided family sat in a packed Ventura courtroom on Thursday to watch the sentencing of a woman to 11 years in prison for the 2009 killing of her aunt.

Gina Drake, 51, of Ventura, appeared in Ventura County Superior Court for the hearing Thursday morning after pleading guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter. She also admitted using a knife to kill her mother’s sister, Wendy DiRodio, on June 3, 2009.

You are viewing: Who Killed Wendy Dirodio

As Drake walked into the courtroom, she waved at her loved ones before sitting next to her attorneys Mark Pachowicz and Kathleen Crouch. Her group of supporters included her mother, Rocky Silver, and grandmother Florence Silver. Drake told them she loved them, and they replied that they loved her, too.

Meanwhile, those on the other side of the courtroom honoring the memory of DiRodio scoffed and gasped. DiRodio turned 61 two days before her death.

Florence Silver found her daughter dead from multiple stab wounds in her locked, first-floor bedroom. DiRodio, an author and family therapist, was living at her parents’ home in the 2800 block of Sailor Avenue in the Ventura Keys section of Ventura to help take care of her father.

There was no evidence of forced entry into her bedroom.

More about the case:

• Ventura woman pleads guilty in aunt’s 2009 death
• Ventura police officer may testify in murder trial of ex-wife
• Ventura cop’s personnel record sought in Ventura murder trial

Years after the killing, Drake was arrested and charged in May 2012 with DiRodio’s murder.

Last month, Drake took a plea deal that threw out the murder charge and stipulated that she be sentenced to the high term of 11 years in state prison should she admit to voluntary manslaughter.

The deal was made after both the prosecution and the defense successfully fought to look at items in the employee personnel file of Ventura police officer Aaron Drake, Gina Drake’s ex-husband. Those materials were turned over prior to the defendant’s guilty plea.

Read more : Who Played For The Patriots And Falcons

Attorneys planned to call Aaron Drake to testify in the case but they began having doubts about his credibility due to statements he made in notes left behind after a suicide attempt at the Ventura police station in July. He survived the attempt and as of December no longer works for the agency.

The defense said Aaron Drake was involved in the DiRodio investigation and his ex-wife’s arrest.

Before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Romero ordered the sentence, three of DiRodio’s family members made victim impact statements. The prosecutor, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rameen Minoui, got up from his chair at the prosecution’s table to allow them to sit.

Chris Emory read a statement on his grandmother Florence Silver’s behalf over the opposition of some family members sitting with Gina Drake’s supporters. DiRodio’s older sister, Idie Emory, and the defendant’s daughter, Hannah Drake, also spoke about DiRodio’s vibrant personality and how the death destroyed the family.

Hannah Drake said DiRodio had a “gentle, loving soul that radiated to all those around her.” She never imagined that DiRodio would be killed in her grandmother’s house where she and her great aunt had played.

She called the defendant a “sad excuse of a mother” whose actions took away the close relationship she had with her loving and caring great aunt.

“I wholeheartedly believe my mother will never fully grasp the damage she has dealt,” Hannah Drake said.

Hannah Drake, now 20, said she was 11 years old when DiRodio was stabbed, and she struggled with the concept of death and killing. She said her great aunt taught her about writing, so she wrote a poem to express herself.

However, she was too overcome with emotion to read it at DiRodio’s funeral so her mother did it for her, Hannah Drake said. She told the court her mother’s “performance” was full of “staggered sobs” as she read the poem.

In her statement, Idie Emory told the court DiRodio was vivacious and loved to dance and travel. She spoke four languages and before she died was learning Portuguese in anticipation of a trip to Brazil.

Idie Emory spoke of DiRodio’s accomplishments, including her authoring of books about relationship building and how a love of animals brings happiness.

Read more : Who Do I Call For Water In My Basement

She expressed how it was difficult for her family to understand why DiRodio was killed and how much her sister was missed.

“We wish you were here now. We need you more than ever, and we wish we could hug you again,” Idie Emory said.

Suzanne Prescott, Gina Drake’s sister, was not permitted to make a statement to the court. She told The Star outside the courthouse that when she was 12, DiRodio became her dance teacher. Prescott said DiRodio was also her support system when her parents divorced.

“When I was very young and my parents went through a yearslong tumultuous divorce, Wendy was the only person there to listen and protect me. Does she not deserve to have the same respect and have me be her voice now? She didn’t have a daughter, but she took me under her wing and gave me a safe haven when I was suffering,” Prescott said as she read her statement.

Prescott said DiRodio’s death and the case against her sister have torn the family apart. She said she’s seen her sister enabled and not held accountable her entire life.

Once the sentencing order was given, Gina Drake was handcuffed and taken into the custody of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to be sent to prison. Her supporters once again told her they loved her as she walked away.

Outside the courtroom, DiRodio’s friend Rita Holifield tried to grapple with what had just happened.

“Just a sad, sad situation,” said Holifield, who traveled from Alabama for the sentencing.

She met DiRodio in 1999 through an online chat group about urticaria, also known as hives. Holifield said she was seeking help for her son and found out that it was something DiRodio dealt with throughout her life. The pair had been friends ever since.

Holifield said DiRodio would talk to her about friction in the family but still struggled to understand it.

“It’s just so crazy,” she said.

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHO