WOODLAND HILLS—The 27-year-old woman who shot and killed her 61-year-old Woodland Hills mother in 2013 was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life at a state prison on Thursday, July 2.

Laura Purviance was apprehended by authorities in 2013, two days after fatally shooting her mother in the back of the head and fleeing to Oregon. In court, prosecutors argued that Laura tricked her mother and planned out her attack before the murder. Purviance’s plea of no-contest on June 30 allowed her to avoid a trial which could have resulted in a verdict that would deny parole.

Purviance’s mother, Caroline Sue Purviance was a mother of five and a grandmother to one at the time of her death. She was a licensed vocational nurse and lifetime resident of Southern California.

Caroline Purviance
Caroline Purviance

Caroline Purviance’s daughter Kathryn was at her sister’s sentencing hearing where she said, “I was the one who first found out what happened to mom. I was the one who had to break the news to my family. I was the one who talked Laura into turning herself in. And I wish to God I had told her to drive off a cliff instead.” She goes on to say that she wishes that her sister would have killed herself instead of her mother.