Echo Butler. PHOTO PROVIDED

A 27-year-old Lycoming County woman was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life terms in state prison without possibility of parole following her guilty plea to two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit murder in the starvation case involving two girls that were supposedly under her care and that of her former girlfriend.

Echo Butler, with her attorney Robert Hoffa, appeared in orange prison garb before county Judge Nancy L. Butts and plead guilty to the conspiracy acknowledging her role in the plot along with Marie Snyder, 33, to starve and abuse Snyder’s daughters, Nicole Elisabeth, 6, and Jasmine Jean Snyder, 4, whose bodies were discovered in a shallow grave behind the mobile home at 635 Livermore Road in Hepburn Township in November, 2021. The 4-year-old apparently died in a residence on Catherine Street but was buried next to her sister, according to prosecutors.

“What you took from us can’t be put into words,” said Giselle Blank, the girls’ great-great-aunt.

Comparing a sentence of life in prison as mild to what “you made my nieces suffer,” Blank broke down in tears.

District Attorney Ryan Gardner had sought the death penalty for Butler had the woman decided to take her case to trial and be convicted.

In the packed courtroom, Butts laid out the facts of the case based on the evidence collected and asked Butler if, between Jan. 1, 2015, and Nov. 6, 2021, she had intentionally conspired with Snyder to kill the girls. Intentional murder is willful, deliberate and premeditated, among other means.

“Did you feed them?” Butts asked Butler.

“I guess not,” she said in a low voice.

Butts asked if the girls were disciplined and read a prior piece of information alleging that they had been thrown on the wall. Hoffa disputed that, and Butts clarified her statement by asking Butler, by discipline it was determined that one or both were required to stand in a corner with their hands tied behind their back, standing up watching while other people would eat.

Butler acknowledged that had occurred.

The girls’ appearance became noticeable as they became gaunt and pale and lost hair, a purposeful kind of torture and intentional act of starvation which is what investigators determined is what led to their deaths.

Gardner said once law enforcement became aware of this, it was quick to react. He noted how the two children were subjected to intentional starvation, which resulted in this loss, and a tragic outcome for the surviving family members and to the community as a whole.

Gardner praised the combined efforts of the former Old Lycoming Township Police Department, state police, FBI and county detectives. The former department has become Lycoming Regional Police.

“Two precious souls were never provided a chance at life,” Gardner said, holding up an image in a framed picture of the girls, which he said was “frozen in time.”

“Their ages will remain indefinitely 6 and 4,” Gardner said. He noted these were the ages when they died.

“Justice is served on their behalf,” he said.

“The kindest act you’ve offered to them is to accept responsibility,” Butts said, looking directly at Butler.

What’s left to happen?

In October, Snyder also pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Snyder also told the judge that she went along with Butler in a plot to starve her two young daughters to death, but while collecting food stamps and cash assistance as if they were alive.

Snyder’s sentencing has not taken place. That food stamps and cash assistance was unconnected to Butler, according to the county public defense team.

Investigators believe based on their work that Nicole Snyder died and was buried in 2016, while her sister died and was buried in 2017.

Butts previously denied a motion to dismiss charges of endangering the welfare of children and obstruction of justice against Echo’s father, Ronald Butler, of Hepburn Township, who told a friend he knew the girls were in danger and tried to sneak food to them, according to prior testimony.

Michele L. Butler, Echo’s mother, was in prison for more than a year on charges that include third-degree homicide.

She was approved for specialized release on bail and planned to cooperate and plead guilty.

Meanwhile, the fraudulent acceptance of the cash assistance will run concurrently with the first life sentence, Butts said. The arresting officer in that case was Maria Lesh of the Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General.

The girls had last been seen by their father, Joshua Snyder, in 2015, and the last time they had contact with medical, court or other personnel was that year.

Remaining counts against Echo Butler were dismissed as were the aggravating circumstances, according to Gardner.

“One step is over,” a family member told members of the media afterward. “One down, three to go.”