Marie Snyder. RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent

Marie Snyder can’t take back what she conspired to do with her ex-girlfriend — the systematic abuse and intentional starvation of her two daughters, whose bodies were found buried in a shallow grave and exhumed in November 2021.

What Snyder, 34, of Williamsport did, however, was cooperate with District Attorney Ryan C. Gardner, to implicate her ex-girlfriend, Echo Butler, in the plot, a move to avoid Gardner’s stated intention to pursue the death penalty case against Snyder for the deaths of Nicole, 6, and Jasmine, 4.

This week, after Snyder’s earlier guilty plea to two first-degree murder charges, Judge Nancy L. Butts sentenced Snyder to serve two consecutive life terms in prison for her deeds.

Additionally, Snyder was sentenced for making false statements and theft by deception stemming from obtaining nearly $50,000 in medical assistance and more than $21,000 in supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits after her daughters were dead. She also was sentenced for these acts and must pay restitution to the state Department of Human Services.

Emotional closure

“At this point in time the facts of this case are well known, well published and accepted as true by Ms. Snyder as evidenced by her prior preliminary hearing testimony and subsequent acceptance of responsibility by pleading guilty,” Gardner said during the sentencing.

“I give Ms. Snyder credit for accepting responsibility and cooperating with the Commonwealth,” Gardner said.

Previously, Butts also said stepping forward to plead guilty would not bring the girls back but was the one right decision she made concerning these girls as a means of providing closure for the family and not having to put them through the agony of revisiting this with a trial.

After Snyder indicated that she wanted to cooperate and during Gardner’s first meeting with her and her counsel, Gardner said he vividly recalled stating that despite the conversation, despite her willingness to cooperate, “She and I are not friends, but that we share a common purpose in that Echo Butler needed to be held accountable for her actions as well.”

Gardner then told Snyder that the day would come that he would acknowledge to the court and the public her cooperation in this regard.

It was Snyder’s cooperation that played a significant role in the successful prosecution of Echo Butler.

Cooperation…but

“Ultimately choosing to walk a path of righteousness regarding cooperation after the gruesome deaths of her daughters does not and should not distract from her engagement as a principal in the protracted period of barbaric and inhumane treatment of two beautiful…helpless…little girls,” Gardner said, reminding the court that it was Snyder, as the girls’ mother, who bore the inherent responsibility to protect and nurture them.

“She did the complete opposite by engaging in conduct so reprehensible that I hope during the balance of my career I never have to revisit anything similar again,” Gardner said.

Snyder was perfectly positioned to end the trauma, end the physical abuse, cease the verbal abuse, stop the starvation and prevent the deaths of both girls.

However, Snyder chose otherwise and willfully chose this outcome, Gardner said, showing pictures of unearthed skeletal remains.

“She chose this outcome over the opportunity to capture more pictures like this,” Gardner said, holding up girls playing and interacting.

“I cannot think of a more appropriate disposition than two consecutive life sentences in prison where Ms. Snyder will now be forever fraught with trying to reconcile in her mind the horrific trauma and murders of her daughters….that she helped cause,” Gardner said.

The girls moved into Butler’s Hepburn Township home in 2014.

The girls were buried at 653 Livermore Road. Their remains were uncovered on Nov. 6 and 7, 2021 by police.

Gardner remarked on witnesses firsthand the awe-inspiring immediate coalescing of countless, local, state and federal agencies to locate and exhume Nicole and Jasmine.

Various members of the FBI, state police, former Old Lycoming Township Police Department, county Detective’s Office, Sheriff’s Office and Hepburnville Township Volunteer Fire Department each served integral roles in successfully locating the girls.

The subsequent investigation by the former Old Lycoming Township Police and county detectives coupled with the forensic resources of the FBI and state police were critical in the swift prosecution of all defendants, Gardner said.

“This county owes a debt of gratitude to all of these agencies,” he said.

Already sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison was Echo Butler, described by Snyder as the instigator of the abuse who convinced her to starve the girls. Michele Butler, her mother, charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children, has yet to be sentenced.

In a lasting tribute, trees were planted in Nicole and Jasmine’s memory in Brandon Park during this past Arbor Day.

Trees are often planted during National Arbor Day in memory of loved ones departed.