Sage Curry was found guilty of murdering Zhaneta Dindi and Hera Dindi in Largo, Florida. (Courtroom screenshot from WTVT/YouTube)
A Florida A man was convicted of randomly following and killing a 78-year-old woman and her teenage granddaughter with the sharpest kitchen knife he could find as they slept.
Sage Curry, 22, was found guilty of two counts of murder and was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the deaths of Zhaneta Dindi and Hera Dindi, 17, based on online court records. Jurors took just one hour to reach their verdict, rejecting his insanity defense, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“We came here from a poor country (Albania) with nothing and wanted our children to succeed. Hera didn’t have that chance,” Arreti Dindi, daughter of Zhaneta Dindi and aunt of Hera Dindi, said in court, the newspaper reported. “This is where we are today. This is what he did to us. He took our future. Hera wanted to have her own family one day, and he took that from her.”
The complaint and arrest affidavit detailed the events of the April 26, 2021, killings in Largo and what the defendant told police had transpired. He admitted to following Zhaneta Dindi home, entering through the bedroom window, and using a butcher's knife to stab her multiple times while she was sleeping, for an unknown reason, according to court documents.
He also confessed to rolling Zhaneta Dindi off the couch to make the incident appear to be an accident before leaving the residence, the affidavit stated.
He sustained injuries during the murders, and the authorities were alerted to the scene when he sought assistance from a neighbor, the document mentioned.
The Times reported that Curry was wounded in the hand and head by Hera Dindi, who tried to intervene in the attack on her grandmother. Hera Dindi was stabbed nine times in the throat, as per the report.
Law enforcement discovered the deceased victims on the floor of the residence. Zhaneta Dindi had multiple stab wounds in her chest area, according to the affidavit.
During his bond hearing, Curry appeared with his right forearm and hand wrapped in a bandage in courtroom video footage aired by the local Fox affiliate WTVT on April 27, 2021.
Largo Police Department Lt. Scott Gore informed NBC News the killing was “a random act with no known relationship between the victims and the arrested.”
Neighbors mentioned that the women were often seen walking through the neighborhood.
“They were probably here just wanting a peaceful life, that sort of thing,” Dan McDonald, whose son was a friend of one of the family’s sons, told WTVT. “I never heard about them bothering anybody. They were just trying to be on with their lives.”
Curry’s mother, Angela Curry, told the Times she struggled to afford medication for her son’s mental health.
“I knew he was mentally ill, and I wanted him to get help,” she said.