Life was never easy for Daphne Wright. She was deaf from childhood and the daughter of an alcoholic, abusive father. By the time she was a teen, she also knew that she was a lesbian.

After coming out to her parents, she had to deal with their disapproval, and, shortly afterwards, her father’s death from cancer.

She attempted suicide several times, and went from a top student athlete to a high school dropout. In 2000, Daphne moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the urging of a friend she met on the Internet. There, she fell in love with a woman who was prominent in the Sioux Falls deaf and lesbian communities.

Their relationship was tumultuous, and in September of 2005, Daphne’s lover called it quits. Daphne became convinced that another deaf friend named Darlene VanderGiesen was behind the breakup. On 1st February, 2006, Daphne abducted VanderGiesen from the parking lot of a Sioux Falls Pizza Hut. She bludgeoned her, then suffocated her with a trash bag.

VanderGiesnen’s body lay in Daphne’s basement for two days until Daphne had a chance to buy a chainsaw and dispose of the remains. When police found threatening emails sent to VanderGiesen, they traced them to Daphne’s computer. Authorities then obtained a search warrant. Police found blood and bone fragments from VanderGiesen hidden under a fresh coat of paint on the walls of Daphne’s basement.

A few days later, VanderGiesen’s body turned up – her legs in a landfill, her torso in a roadside ditch. Daphne was charged with first degree murder. After ten days of salacious and often gruesome testimony, Daphne was found guilty of Darlene’s murder on 12th April, 2007.

She could have been sentenced to death, which would have made her the first deaf woman in U.S. history to be put on death row. However, the jury decided to give her life without parole. The jury foreperson told reporters afterwards that they showed Daphne more mercy than Daphne had shown Darlene.