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Woman jailed for chopping up husband with an axe in front of kids

A woman who hacked at her husband with an axe in front of their children will serve 20 to 40 years in prison.

Melanie Sue Snyder was 41 years old when she attacked her husband in 2017 in their Pennsylvanian home and her three children fled, fearing for their lives.

According to an Associated Press report from 2017, Ms Snyder’s 17-year-old daughter called the authorities and said there was a struggle to get a 46-centimetre axe away from her mother before she struck Thomas Snyder several times in the neck.

Mr Snyder didn’t immediately die following the attack, however, six months later he did die of pneumonia and investigators said it was a result of the wounds his wife inflicted, local media website Tribe Live reported.

On Monday, Ms Snyder’s appeal was denied, she claimed that there was not enough evidence to prove she caused the death of her husband with the court ensuring she spends time in prison, TribLive reported.

Ms Snyder was convicted of third-degree murder.

Melanie Sue Snyder attacked her husband with an axe in 2017. Source: Crime Online/KDKA
Melanie Sue Snyder attacked her husband with an axe in 2017. Source: SCI Cambridge Springs/KDKA

Ms Snyder’s 17-year-old daughter said she was woken up that night by her mother pulling off the blankets. Her 13-year-old son was woken after he was hit on the head, the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported in 2018.

The couple also have a son who was six years old at the time.

Mum found walking the street in bloody T-shirt

Following the axe attack, Ms Snyder was found walking up the street in a blood-stained T-shirt which read: ‘Nope, not today’, calm and emotionless.

“Sometime that morning Melanie Snyder had attacked Tom Snyder with an axe, striking him numerous times,” Scott Andreassi, Armstrong County District Attorney, said in 2017 according to KDKA.

“It was further determined that the 911 call came from that house, from one of the [couple’s children]. He was bleeding profusely and had numerous injuries about him.”

KDKA reported the police had no record of problems within the Snyder’s home.

Ms Snyder did eventually admit to taking the axe from the shed and attack her husband because she was angry, Crime Live reported.

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