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Federal Heights woman sentenced to life in prison without parole, convicted of poisoning father, burying him in crawl space

Dayna Jennings has been convicted of murdering her father, William Mussack.

FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo. — A woman will spend the rest of her life in prison after she was convicted of poisoning her father with an animal tranquilizer and burying his body in a crawl space.

Dayna Jennings, 45, was found guilty in July of the murder of her father Willliam Mussack, 69, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Jennings was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole plus 6 years for tampering with a deceased human body.

The last time Mussack was seen alive was December 2017. Just before that, prosecutors said Mussack told his son he fell asleep for 15 hours after Jennings gave him some food and a massage.

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“I keep telling her she must have drugged me,” Mussack is quoted by prosecutors as saying.

The autopsy revealed Mussack had been poisoned by acepromazine, an animal tranquilizer that slows respiratory function until a person stops breathing and the heart stops beating, the district attorney’s office said.

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Mussack stopped communicating with his relatives on Dec. 8, 2017. Over the ensuing days, prosecutors said Jennings rented two dumpsters and bought bags of concrete from Home Depot while she maxed out her father’s credit card.

Eleven days after the district attorney’s office believes she murdered her father, Jennings texted “life is so different now I feel so much better.”   

Jennings has now been convicted of first-degree murder after deliberation and tampering with a deceased human body. The murder charge comes with a mandatory life sentence.

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