On a Thursday afternoon, September 20, 2018, 8-year-old Caucasian female Eliza Kristine Orellana and her 11-year-old sister had just returned to their Gerrardstown, West Virginia home from school. Their mother, Julie Orellana, called them upstairs with a story about kittens being stuck under a bed. Once the girls were in the bedroom, their mother began shooting, striking both of them. The older sister, despite being shot in the leg, managed to escape the room and jump from an adjacent bedroom window to a neighbor's house to get help.
When authorities arrived at the family's Tall Pine Lane home, they found Eliza on the living room floor. She had sustained multiple gunshot and stab wounds to her chest, abdomen, neck, and back and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her older sister was taken to a local hospital for her injuries and was expected to recover. A search for the mother, who had fled the scene in a white Honda SUV, was initiated.
The vehicle was later found abandoned on a nearby lane.
Julie Orellana was located and arrested the following morning. At the time of her arrest, she was found with a steak knife and a 9 mm pistol. Police also discovered a six-page letter she had written, which detailed her plan to murder both of her daughters and then take her own life. She was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
In January 2020, Julie Orellana pleaded guilty to the charges. During a mercy hearing, she testified that she had been struggling with mental illness and had decided to kill her daughters and herself so they could all be in heaven together. She expressed that she couldn't believe what she had done. A jury ultimately sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Eliza and the attempted murder of her older daughter.
