Wait, she's she's on the ground. So there is >> Who is it? >> My mom. >> This is a man who has just been told that his wife was murdered. But what he could have never imagined is that the person responsible was his own daughter. >> It was a very large or very loud sort of thud sound. >> The whole time I kept saying, "Hello, hello, Brenda. Can you hear me?" Right. And uh and ultimately once the sound had gotten closer and we heard several more of the of the banging sounds, the phone clicked and went off. It all happened on March 3rd, 2020 in Akran, Ohio. Police rushed to a home after a disturbing 911 call and what they found inside was horrifying. Lying on the kitchen floor was Brenda Powell, covered in blood, stabbed nearly 30 times in the neck. Her daughter Sydney was also inside the house. She told officers it was a home invasion, that someone broke in and attacked them both. But something wasn't adding up. Even though Cydney was hurt, too, the scene didn't match her story. Investigators later learned that Brenda had been on the phone with one of Sydney's college professors right before the attack. In the middle of that call, the professor suddenly heard Brenda screaming and then silence. When he called back, someone answered, claiming to be Brenda. But the voice didn't sound right. It wasn't her. It was Sydney. Realizing something was terribly wrong. The professor immediately called 911. And within minutes, Akran police arrived at the Powell home where a nightmare was waiting inside. >> She's she's on the ground. So there's >> Who is it? >> My mom. There someone broke in the back window. There's There's >> Where's your mom? >> No. No. There. There's so much blood. No. Please. >> M. M. [Music] [Applause] >> Stop. Stop. >> Hold on. We got to figure out what's going on. >> It turns out Brenda wasn't just stabbed. She'd also been struck in the head with an iron skillet. Her injuries were devastating and her life hung in the balance. >> Dad, >> what happened? What's going on? >> What's going on? >> We heard a bang. >> We heard a bang and she told me to get out and then I heard screaming. So I came back and she was on the ground. >> Okay. You heard a bang? >> I came out back. There was a big broken Okay. >> What is your name? >> Sydney. >> Are you caught? I don't think so. >> Yeah, you're cut somewhere. >> I don't think so. >> Yeah, your hand. >> No, I was helping her. I grabbed her. >> All right, stop. >> I tell you what. Can you sit on the ground here real quick? >> Dispatch. >> Come on. Come on. >> You said the ground. >> Yeah, you're fine. Right there. >> No, >> you're fine right there. >> Please just before the street picks a ramp. Um, a truck lost some concrete. >> This is minor. They might have a more I don't know. Check that victim in there. >> She's got cuts on her hands. I don't know what they have in there, but there's a female down in there. >> Yeah. >> What's going on? >> I don't know. We just got >> a dadney. >> I don't know. >> Sydney was hurt, too. shaking and struggling to stay calm. Even her father, Steve Powell, couldn't comfort her when he arrived. Police sealed off the scene and searched for clues. They found a broken window in the bloody knife, but the blood was on the outside of the glass, meaning the window was smashed after the attack. Sydney claimed the intruder came through that window, but her story was already falling apart. Detectives began questioning neighbors and later spoke with Steve and one of Sydney's friends at the station, still unaware that Brenda was fighting for her life in the hospital. >> You get a call from call from call from me. Oh, okay. >> He said there was a call went out, a distress call from the University of Mountain Union where my daughter was going and said, uh, female in distress. I said, well, that's funny because Brenda's there, my wife. So, I said, well, let me call. So, I called Brenda. It rings rings on the cell phone. No answer. I call Sydney back. Rings and rings and rings. No answer. I call right in the back. Ring ring and ring. No answer. I'm pacing around. I call Jeep back and on the phone with him telling him there's no answer. My doctor calls me back. He said, "Oh, mom's on the phone with the with uh Union." I said, "Well, cops are on the way." And she went, "There's been a breakin and there's" and she just started going off. She said, "What?" She said that was there's bit somebody broke into the house. There's blood everywhere. And I'm like, "Stop." And then I started that's when I called I probably I mean I'm sure there was conversations after that. >> I'm not we don't know the detail. She was hysterical and crying. I called Jeep back and said yes. I don't know what I told you. I don't know if I said it was legit or yes that you chops on the way. There's been a break in Sydney. I and I left. >> What Sydney never told her parents was that she'd been expelled from college weeks before the attack and had been lying to them ever since. Her friends, including Lauren, who lived in the same dorm, already knew the truth >> that that Sydney was your roommate at Mount Union? >> Yes, she was for last year and then this year until she left. >> And so you've been friends ever since your s freshman year at St. B. >> Mhm. >> Go over each other's houses, everything. Everything like that. >> Yep. Well, she started off in exercise science freshman year, her first semester, but then she didn't like the classes, so she switched over to psychology and sociology, but then she didn't really like that. So, this year she switched to education and then she didn't like that either. And that's one of the reasons she left is cuz she really couldn't find what she liked. I think she was like, like I said, she I think she struggled in her classes. I don't think were the best, but she didn't really tell me that cuz um I wasn't really struggling. I think she kept a lot of stuff hidden because when we were just talking with our friends, she always seemed happy. Like she seemed okay. Like I said, I couldn't tell until the end where she was kind of just like struggling and she kind of was sad and just like Lauren, I don't know what to do. >> To detectives, this revealed a crucial piece of her mindset before the incident. Was this a sudden breakdown or something planned? But Sydney had her own story. She claimed she didn't remember anything, that she'd blacked out completely. And soon she'd build her entire defense around that. With no clear motive and no solid proof tying her to the stabbing, investigators were left with more questions than answers. But one thing was becoming clear. Cydney Powell had been hiding far more than anyone realized. Well, I know she's had anxiety for a while. But I don't think I think those last like this last semester like starting coming back in January is when it really started that she was kind of more like upset because she really didn't know what she wanted to do. Like she didn't like her. My friends and I were worried for her because we were just we didn't know what was going on cuz she didn't tell us and like and I told her I was like I'm here like you can tell me I'm here for you. if you need anything, I'm here. But she never really opened up until she was leaving. By now, Sydney was trapped in a web of lies, one she could no longer control. Instead of admitting the truth, she told her parents that college just wasn't working out, that she wanted to leave and save them money on tuition. To her friends, she made it sound like a choice, not a failure. But her friend Lauren knew something was off. And when Sydney's professor finally called her parents, Steve and Brenda Powell, the truth began to unravel. Brenda and Steve sat their daughter down for a serious talk, desperate to understand what was going on. That's when Sydney's two stories collided. One for her friends and another for her family. Her grades weren't the issue. The lies were. And detectives would later believe that when Brenda confronted her about being expelled, Cydney snapped. In a sudden burst of rage, she grabbed an iron skillet and struck her mother. Then stabbed her more than 30 times in the neck with a kitchen knife. Moments later, she picked up the phone, pretended to be Brenda, and staged a fake breakin, hoping to cover up what she'd done. But her story was already falling apart piece by piece. >> Were you able to go in the house at all? >> I made it in far enough to see the back fit. There's when you go into the front door, you come around the kitchen, you go in, you can see the uh there's like a pass through between the kitchen and the family room. The back of the house, I could see the right hand there's two big sliding windows. I could see that window was clearly it looked like it was busted and the uh blinds were they looked like they were pushed in went down the hallway probably about two feet just enough to see blood all the way down the hallway and then somebody >> Sadly Brenda Powell didn't survive. The medical examiner confirmed she died from blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds, ruling it a homicide. Detectives now faced the hardest part, telling Steve Powell that not only was his wife gone, but his own daughter was responsible. It's impossible to imagine his pain. A wife murdered, a daughter accused. Sydney was arrested and charged with her mother's murder. She claimed insanity, saying she remembered nothing. Not the skillet, not the stabbing. But the jury didn't believe her. Cydney Powell was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 15 years. 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