A Northern Virginia woman accused of killing her daughters refused to appear in court Friday.
Veronica Youngblood is accused of shooting the two children inside an apartment in the 1500 block of Lincoln Circle in McLean the night of Aug. 5. One of the children died at the scene, and the other suffered life-threatening injuries, police said in the wake of the shooting. She died at the hospital nearly a week later.
The violence followed years of a contentious custody dispute with her ex-husband, who had just retired from the Navy and was getting ready to move with the girls to Missouri.
Prosecutors planned to lay out their case against Youngblod Friday, but she refused to go to court. Her defense attorneys went to the jail to meet with her, but still she refused to show.
Her attorney told the judge Youngblood is "an incredibly mentally ill young woman."
The judge issued an order, and on Monday he’ll tell Youngblood over a video hookup she has to start showing up or she’ll forfeit her right to be present at the next hearing, now scheduled for May 10.
Youngblood missed a previous hearing because of suicide attempts.
