A 31-year-old woman has been sentenced to 28 years behind bars after she confessed to killing both of her children a few years apart. 

Briseida G. Sran of Madera, California pled guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of child abuse, and one count of mutilation on Monday.  

“Today in Madera Superior Court the parents of Divina and Thaddeus Sran accepted responsibility for their killings and they will be going to prison. It’s always tragic to see parents killing their children — particularly tragic and heinous,” Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said. “Although it can seem like no amount of time is enough, today there was justice for both Davina and Thaddeus Sran.”

According to the report, the death of the couple’s then 4-month-old daughter occurred in 2015. Briseida was investigated for the child’s death but lawyers argued that the child suffered from “very serious medical issues,” and called the death a “Crib death.”

Briseida was then cleared of all wrongdoing in the case. 

In July of 2020, both Briseida in her husband, 43-year-old Sukhjinder Sran reported their son Thaddeus missing. 

The couple told the Madera City Police Department that they put the child to bed and woke up the next morning to an empty crib. They then told police that they believed someone may have taken the child from his crib through an open window in his room. 

Police agencies and hundreds of volunteers in the Madera area participated in the search. 

After nine days of searching for Thaddeus, cadaver dogs found the child’s remains burned and buried in a nearby orchard. 

 Briseida and Sukhjinder then allegedly stopped cooperating with investigators and were arrested for his death later that month.

Due to the discovery of Thaddeus’ body, investigators decided to reopen the case involving the couple’s other child. During the investigation, officials found the child suffered from injuries that were “not normal.”

Because of the similarities between the injuries sustained by

both children, authorities were able to bring additional charges against Briseida. 

According to the report, Briseida’s husband pleaded guilty to Thaddeus’ death but investigators found no evidence that he was involved in the death of their 4-month-old daughter. 

Sukhjinder will serve 11 years behind bars.