A murderous foster daughter who stabbed her foster mother almost 200 times during a secret love affair with her foster father was sentenced to life in prison by an Ohio judge Monday, The New York Daily News reported.
Sabrina Zunich, 19, cried inside a Lake County courtroom as the judge handed down the sentence, with the possibility for parole after 30 years of her sentence, for the November 2012 murder of 41-year-old Lisa Knoefel.
The woman's husband, Kevin Knoefel, was convicted in June of telling his foster daughter-turned-lover to commit the crime so he could collect an $800,000 life insurance policy he had for her.
Zunich, 17 years old at the time of the murder, testified against her foster father, who was also sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years served.
Judge Richard Collins Jr. said Monday he would have sentenced the teen to life without parole if she had resisted cooperating with the investigation. She helped prosecutors get the conviction of her foster dad, who feared his wife would divorce him and take custody of their 3-year-old child.
Kevin Knoefel was driving a truck from Michigan to Ohio for his job when Zunich carried out the heinous stabbing two years ago.
Kevin Knoefel helped the teen learn how to stab his wife, giving her tips on ways to inflict the maximum amount of damage.
The 3-year-old hid in the bedroom closet as Zunich carried their plan at the family's Willoughby Hills home, slashing the woman 178 times with a 10-inch blade while she slept.
Zunich had lived at the Knoefel's home since July 2011. She had been in custody of Lake County officials since 2010 when it was determined she was too unruly to live with her grandmother anymore, according to Cleveland.com.
She testified in Knoefel's trial that she excelling in high school and had plans to model or start cosmetology school when she graduated.
She said she expected the Knoefel's to divorce and she would live with Kevin Knoefel after he told her that he no longer loved his wife. They began a sexual relationship in March, 2012.
