Phoenix mom dies in prison after being convicted of killing her 2 girls

PHOENIX — A Phoenix mom who drugged and killed her two little girls in 2021 has died by allegedly hanging herself while in prison.

Retta Cruse, 38, died on Friday. State officials said prison staff at the Perryville Prison in Goodyear found Cruse unconscious in her cell and rendered aid until emergency personnel arrived, according to reporting by ABC15.

Medical staff pronounced her dead, according to an Arizona Department of Corrections press release. 

How was the Phoenix mom convicted of killing her daughters?

On September 8, 2021, Cruse killed her daughters, 4-year-old Royal McIntyre and 9-year-old Aleyah McIntyre. The girls were found unresponsive at a home in north Phoenix near 13th Street and Mountain View Road.

Cruse locked herself in a bedroom with “self-inflicted knife wounds,” according to ABC15.

Police said Cruse used prescription and over-the-counter medications that caused her daughters to overdose and ultimately kill them.

On September 14, 2021, Cruse was booked into jail after she was treated for her injuries at a hospital.

Cruse was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and sent to prison in 2022.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office is looking into her death.

Related

Phoenix mother accused of murdering 2 daughters with prescription drugsRachel Henry sentenced to life in prison for smothering her 3 kids in 2020Woman arrested over Peoria church shooting threat, swatting, stalking, police sayPhoenix man accused of hiding woman’s body in her Gilbert home after alleged overdoseFlock Safety cuts data retention, adds safeguards amid growing Arizona agency departuresTaylor Swift tickets part of lavish lifestyle funded by Scottsdale man’s $10.7M theft