Monica McCarrick, Mother Who Murdered Twin Daughters With Samurai Sword, Gets Life In Prison

By Robin Wilkey - HuffingtonPost.com

October 4, 2012

A 29-year-old mother convicted of murdering her young twin daughters with a samurai sword was sentenced to two life terms in prison on Wednesday.

According to The Reporter, a tearful Monica McCarrick apologized on the stand expressing her "deepest sorrow" for the 2010 incident.

McCarrick reportedly killed her three-year-old twins, Tori and Lily Ball, with a samurai sword on October 12, 2010, while the two were strapped into their high chairs. McCarrick then allegedly attempted suicide and set her apartment on fire.

McCarrick's attorney told the courtroom that her client was suffering from paranoid delusions and believed her daughters were going to be enslaved and raped.

McCarrick pleaded insanity, and her mother detailed her daughter's troubled childhood and history of mental illness during her testimony. However, the jury denied the insanity plea after McCarrick's meth use was revealed.

The jury convicted McCarrick of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of assault on a child causing death.

"I feel really bad," McCarrick reportedly told the courtroom and the father of her children on Wednesday. "I pray for all of you every day and I wish there was something I could do to ease the pain for both of our families. I love Tori and Lily more than anything in the world."

The father of the children also took the stand, according to The Reporter:

The father of the twin girls, Michael Ball, also made an emotional statement before Judge Peter B Foor, but instead of asking for leniency, he went on to describe an "unconscionable" crime committed by the "defendant," never referring to McCarrick by her name.

"I will miss all of the joys of my father-daughter relationship," Ball said.

Mom Ruled Sane In Samurai Sword Killing Of Fairfield Twins

CBS News

June 27, 2012

FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) – A Fairfield woman faces life in prison without parole when she is sentenced later this summer for killing her twin daughters in their apartment in October 2010.

A Solano County Superior Court jury on Tuesday found that Monica McCarrick, 29, was sane when she used a sword to kill the 3-year-old twins, Tori and Lily Ball, on Oct. 10, 2010, according to the Solano County District Attorney’s Office

The jury convicted McCarrick on June 15 of two counts each of first-degree murder and assault on a child causing death.

McCarrick had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. She will be sentenced on Aug. 6.

Her daughters were found dead near the door of McCarrick’s burning apartment. They died of multiple stab and slash wounds from a samurai sword.

Fairfield police said McCarrick had tried to commit suicide after the killings by cutting herself and lighting fire to her third-floor apartment at the Summit at Paradise Valley complex at 3001 N. Texas St.

Mother accused of murdering twin daughters with samurai sword makes first court appearance

By Meena Hartenstein - NYDailyNews.com

October 26, 2010

A mother accused of killing her 3-year-old twin daughters with a samurai sword made her first court appearance on Tuesday, shackled to a wheelchair and wrapped in bandages.

Monica McCarrick allegedly stabbed her daughters Tori and Lily Ball on Oct. 12, set fire to her apartment and then turned the samurai sword on herself in an apparent attempt to commit suicide.

Neighbors noticed smoke coming from her apartment and ran to help, according to the Vacaville Reporter, even breaking down McCarrick's front door.

Andre Douglas, the first neighbor to respond, told the Reporter that the smoke was so thick he had to abandon going through the apartment's main entrance and managed to break in through a sliding glass door that led to McCarrick's bedroom.

He then crawled through the dark apartment, struggling to see through the smoke.

"Once I actually got past her room there was a sword, a bloody katana-style Japanese fighting sword, in the hallway and a bottle of pills," Douglas said.

Firefighters were notified by an alarm going off in the building and responded to the scene quickly.

McCarrick, 28, was immediately hospitalized and placed on suicide watch.

She has since been released and sent to prison.

An autopsy confirmed that the twins died from being stabbed multiple times.

According to the Reporter, The District Attorney's office has not decided whether to pursue the death penalty for McCarrick.

She faces charges of murder, child abuse, arson and destruction of evidence and has pleaded not guilty.

According to court records reported by the San Jose Mercury News, McCarrick is linked to a 2006 domestic violence case, as well as a child support case from 2009 involving the twins' father, Michael William Ball.

'Woman used samurai sword to butcher her twin daughters, 3, before slashing her own throat'

DailyMail.co.uk

October 18, 2010

A young mother is to be charged with murder after her twin three-year-old daughters were hacked to death with a samurai sword. 

In horrific details about the double murder and attempted suicide, investigators say Monica McCarrick killed the little girls and then propped their bodies against the front door of the apartment in a bid to prevent rescuers from getting in.

Firefighters made the grim discovery of the girls, Lily and Tori, after being called last week to a fire in a flat where they lived with McCarrick.

The 28-year-old was found near the bodies of the twins with a self-inflicted sword wound to the throat. She will be charged with murder after being released from hospital.

Investigators said the head of one of the girls had almost been decapitated. The other suffered multiple stab wounds to the stomach.

McCarrick then set fire to the flat in Fairfield, California, and placed the lifeless bodies of her daughters against the front door before trying to kill herself.

Neighbours had desperately tried to force their way into the flat after noticing smoke seeping from under the front door and smoke alarms going off.

Andre Douglas was able to break into the third-floor flat through a window and saw the alleged murder weapon on the floor.

'Once I actually got past her room, there was a sword, a bloody katana-style Japanese fighting sword, in the hallway, and a bottle of pills,' he said.

Police do not yet know a motive for the double murder and have been attempting to track down the twin's 38-year-old father Michael Ball.

They have been unable to interview McCarrick in hospital because of her injury.

Police reports show that McCarrick had previous arrests for using drugs. She was also involved in a domestic violence arrest in San Diego.

One report said McCarrick called her fiancée while the fire alarm was going off. It’s alleged that her fiancée called his mother and told her Monica had ‘lost her mind’.

Police said McCarrick will be charged with two counts of murder when she is released from John Muir Medical Centre. She will also face two counts of child abuse resulting in death, and one count each of arson and destruction of evidence.

Fairfield police lieutenant Darren Moody said it appeared to be a murder-suicide.

'We have no evidence that anyone else was involved,' he told local media. 'The doors and windows were locked from the inside.'

Police: California mom kills twin girls

Monica McCarrick was arrested Wednesday

WoodTV.com

Thursday, October 14, 2010

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) - A California mother accused of stabbing her twin 3-year-old daughters to death before attempting to take her own life and setting fire to her apartment has been arrested.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Monica McCarrick was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder, two counts of child abuse resulting in death and one count each of arson and destruction of evidence.

The newspaper reports that McCarrick was to be booked at Solano County Jail after being treated at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for non-life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters found the children's bodies around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday inside their 28-year-old mother's apartment after responding to reports of a fire and extinguishing the blaze.

Fairfield Toddlers Stabbed With Sword; Mother Hospitalized

By Matthew Keys & Elissa Harrington - FOX40 News

October 13, 2010

Fairfield - A woman has been hospitalized with self-inflicted stab wounds after she stabbed her two young daughters to death with a sword, according to police and sources.

The 3-year-old toddlers, unofficially identified as Lily and Tori Ball, were found dead inside an apartment at the Summit at Paradise Valley complex located on North Texas Street in Fairfield Tuesday evening.

Authorities say the woman, identified by police as Monica Christine McCarrick, stabbed the two girls and then herself. Both toddlers died from their wounds. Police suspect McCarrick set her apartment on fire before passing out from her wounds.

Neighbors were the first to the scene. They saw a fire burning in the window of the apartment and tried to break down the front door.

"There was some sort of blockage there and wouldn't open all the way," said Andre Douglas, who lives directly below the family.

Douglas thinks there was something heavy propped against the door to prevent anyone from getting inside.

"When the first guy tried to kick in the door it actually opened a little bit," added neighbor Adrian Babes. "And I could feel the heat and it actually was so hot it pushed me back."

Neighbors broke a sliding glass door and Douglas went inside. In the hallway, he found a bloody sword and a bottle of pills.

"Right in the hallway there was a bloody Katana-style sword," he said. "And at that point I had to get out of there."

McCarick is currently in a Walnut Creek hospital undergoing surgery after sustaining what police think are self-inflicted stab wounds. She will be booked into the Solano County Jail on homicide and arson charges after she is released from the hospital.

Authorities confirmed to FOX40 News the woman used a sword as a weapon during the incident Tuesday evening but they would not say if it was a samurai-style sword.

No other suspects are named in connection with Tuesday's attack. Police say the investigation is ongoing.