It was too painful. I had to make several pauses to compose myself. The judge was understanding, allowing me to drink water, breathe deeply. David’s lawyer tried to make me seem like a vengeful mother, but it did not work. The facts were the facts. The evidence was there.
Robert testified the next day. He was more contained than I was, more focused on the facts. But when the prosecutor asked how he felt about his son trying to poison him, Robert finally let the emotion show.
“I taught this boy to ride a bike,” he said with a broken voice. “I played soccer with him every weekend. I helped him with homework. I gave him advice on his career, on life. And now I discover he was putting poison in my coffee every morning. How should I feel?”
The most shocking moment of the trial came when Mrs. Lords, Victoria’s mother, testified. She spoke about the suspicion she had always had about her daughter, about the strange behaviors since childhood, about the mysterious death of Hector and Sylvia.
“I always knew,” she confessed, crying. “Deep down, I always knew my daughter had killed that couple, but I did not have the courage to accept it or do something. And because of my cowardice, more people almost died.”
Victoria’s defense tried to discredit Mrs. Lords, saying she was a resentful mother trying to harm her daughter, but the damage was done.
On the fifth day of the trial, they played the recordings of the conversations between David and Victoria. Hearing that out loud in the full courtroom was surreal.
Victoria: Babe, you cannot falter now. Think about what we are going to have when this is over.
David: I know, but it is hard. Every time I see my dad, I think I am poisoning him.
Victoria: So what? He is old. He was going to die in a few years anyway. You are just accelerating the inevitable and doing it in a way he will not suffer.
David: And my mom?
Victoria: After your dad. She is going to be easy. She will be fragile, sad. No one is going to think it is weird if she gets sick too. You just need to have patience.
The room went completely silent while the recordings played. I could not look at David. I could not see his expression while he listened to his own voice planning our death.
When they played the part where Victoria talked about how she had killed Hector and Sylvia, the reaction was audible. Murmurs. Choked exclamations of shock.
Victoria: It took me about four months with the man. I started very slowly, minimal doses. He started having dizziness, confusion. The doctor thought it was early Alzheimer’s. My mom, I mean Sylvia, lasted six months. It was harder because she was younger, healthier, but in the end it worked.
David: And no one suspected?
Victoria: The doctors thought it was natural. He was 68. She was 62. It happens. You know, when the tests showed possible poisoning, they had already been cremated. There was no way to prove anything.
The trial lasted two weeks. Two weeks of horrifying accounts, crushing evidence, witnesses confirming every sordid detail of David and Victoria’s plan.
On the penultimate day, the prosecution closed by presenting a complete timeline. They showed how Victoria met David at a corporate event, how she intentionally seduced him, how she gradually planted the seed of the idea that his parents were obstacles to his happiness.
The emails and messages showed a clear pattern. At first, Victoria was subtle. Comments apparently innocent, about how David deserved more from life, about how it was unfair that he had to wait for the inheritance while his parents lived comfortably.
Gradually, the suggestions became more direct.
What if there was a way to have everything now? she wrote in a message. What if you did not need to wait decades?
David initially resisted.
What are you talking about? Killing my parents? Are you crazy?
But Victoria was persistent. She shared articles about poisoning cases that were never discovered. Talked about how she had become free and rich when Hector and Sylvia died. Painted a seductive picture of a life of luxury and freedom.
And slowly, David gave in.
The first message where he agreed with the plan was dated six months ago.
Okay, let us do this. But it has to be perfect. There can be no mistakes.
Six months.
He had been planning to kill us for six months.
When it was the defense’s turn to present final arguments, David’s lawyer focused entirely on Victoria’s manipulation.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” he said, “my client is guilty, yes, but he is also a victim. Victim of a calculating sociopath who seduced and manipulated him, who used his love for her to transform him into an instrument of death.”
He presented psychological reports showing that David was in deep depression, that he genuinely regretted it, that he had tried suicide twice in prison since the arrest.
“David Mendes is not a monster,” argued the lawyer. “He is a man who committed terrible mistakes under the influence of a true monster. He deserves punishment, yes, but he also deserves a chance at redemption.”
Victoria’s defense, on the other hand, tried to argue that everything was nothing more than a fantasy, that the conversations were just a morbid game between the couple, that they never had any real intention to kill anyone.
“Where is the proof that my client killed Hector and Sylvia Fernandez?” argued the lawyer. “There is none. Just speculation based on conversations taken out of context.”
But the accusation against Victoria in the Fernandez case was strong. Witnesses talked about how she had behaved strangely during their illness. How she had been anxious to cremate the bodies before more detailed tests could be done. How she started spending the inheritance before even the funeral.
On the last day came the time for the prosecution’s final arguments. Prosecutor Edward Martinez was visibly emotional.
“What we saw in these two weeks,” he began, “was the darkest face of human nature. A woman who killed the parents who raised her for greed. A man who planned to murder the parents who loved him unconditionally for the promise of wealth and an easy life.”
He pointed to the evidence meticulously organized on a table.
“This is not fantasy. This is not a game. These are real plans, real actions, real poison that caused real damage to Mr. Robert Mendes.”
Then he turned to David and Victoria.
“You are young. You had a whole life ahead. But you chose the easiest path, the path of betrayal, of murder, and now you must pay the consequences of those choices.”
The jury retired to deliberate. Robert and I waited in a private room. The hours passed with torturous slowness. Every minute seemed like an hour.
Finally, after four hours, we were called back. The jury had a verdict.
My heart was in my throat when the jury foreman stood up to read.
“In the case of the state against David Mendes for the charge of attempted qualified homicide, we find the defendant guilty.”
I felt Robert squeeze my hand.
“In the case of the state against Victoria Fernandez for the charge of attempted qualified homicide, we find the defendant guilty.”
There was a collective sigh in the courtroom.
“In the case of the state against Victoria Fernandez for the charge of homicide of Hector Fernandez, we find the defendant guilty. In the case of the state against Victoria Fernandez for the charge of homicide of Sylvia Fernandez, we find the defendant guilty.”
Victoria remained impassive, as if the verdict did not affect her. David, on the other hand, collapsed. I saw his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
The judge scheduled sentencing for the following week.
When we left the court, we were surrounded by reporters. Microphones were put in our faces. Questions shouted from all sides. Security escorted us to the car.
At home that night, Robert and I finally managed to breathe for the first time in weeks.
“It is over,” said Robert. “Finally, it is over.”
But I knew it was not quite like that. The trial had ended, yes. But the healing process, learning to live with that scar, that was going to take much longer.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge was direct.
“David Mendes,” he began, “you betrayed in the most fundamental way possible the two people who loved you most in this world. For the crimes of which you were found guilty, I sentence you to 25 years in prison.”
David heard the sentence with his head down, without reaction.
“Victoria Fernandez,” continued the judge, “you not only planned and executed the murder of your own parental figures, but also seduced and manipulated a young man to do the same. For the crimes of which you were found guilty, I sentence you to the maximum penalty equivalent to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.”
Victoria reacted for the first time since the beginning of the trial. I saw a crack in her mask of serenity. Her eyes opened wide. Her face paled.
“This is unfair!” she screamed, standing up. “I did not do anything. It was all him. Everything was David.”
