Caregiver sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing elderly Ponce Inlet woman
A caregiver who prosecutors said combined with her husband to kill an elderly woman she was supposed to be caring for as the woman slept in her Ponce Inlet condo was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in prison.
Micayla Yusko, 24, was adjudicated guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of 89-year-old Margaret Hindsley on Jan. 5, 2022. Hindsley was shot twice in the head.
Yusko and her husband, Tyden Guinn, 27, were each indicted on charges of first-degree murder with a firearm and burglary with a battery, (occupied dwelling, firearm) in Hindsley's murder.
Yusko pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree murder with a firearm, as part of a plea deal filed April 25. Yusko also pleaded no contest to the burglary with a battery charge. Yusko faced between 40 and 60 years in prison, according to the terms of the plea agreement.
Circuit Judge Karen Foxman sentenced Yusko to the 60 years in prison after a day-long hearing at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.
Foxman said Hindsley was “particularly vulnerable.” She is elderly and just had surgery and needed a walker. And Yusko, her caretaker, comes up with the plan and has the co-defendant carry out the plan, shooting Hindsley while she is sleeping.
The case against Guinn, 27, remains open and his next hearing is set for May 15.
Richard Brendel, an investigator for the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office, testified that Yusko told him in an interview after her arrest that she had using the drug "molly" before the murder. Brendel also testified that Yusko said it was her idea to kill Hindsley.
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak asked him whether she gave a reason.
Brendel said Yusko made several religious references from the Book of Revelations and said that Hindsley was Satan and Satan needed to be destroyed.
Yusko also said that she thought COVID-19 was a plague and the vaccine was the mark of the beast so she would not take the vaccine, Brendel testified.
Yusko got a gun from the bedroom in their Port Orange apartment and handed it to her husband, who was a bit hesitant and asked if they should do it, Brendel recounted. She said that they needed to do it, Brendel said.
They then drove to Hindsley’s condominium in Ponce Inlet.
Yusko said she couldn’t shoot Hindsley, so she had her husband kill her while she waited in the kitchen, Brendel said.
Yusko told her husband that she wanted Hindsley to know who did this, so she instructed him to shoot her once, wait and shoot her again.
She said she heard one gunshot then about five seconds later a second gunshot, Brendel recalled from the interview.
Detectives found a narcotic known as "bath salts" in Yusko's and her husband's apartment in Port Orange. Detectives also recovered the gun used in the killing.
Investigators found a bullet casing near the elderly woman's walker.
State Attorney R.J. Larizza stated in a release: "Caregiver became murderer in this sad and disturbing case. Sometimes people we entrust with our life take it instead."
Yusko's defense attorney, Jeffrey D. Deen, argued that the crime was the result of mental illness, not drug use.
Yusko made a statement to the court expressing remorse. She said that Hindsley had treated her well and that she could talk to Hindsley about anything. She said that Hindsley had prayed with her.
"I am so sorry," Yusko said.
Elderly woman's family asks for maximum punishment
Yusko’s daughter, Kathleen Pistole, who lives in Michigan, testified she had been looking forward to celebrating her mother’s 90th birthday. She said Hindsley was a grandmother and great-grandmother who still had a lot of life to live.
She said that blue was her mother’s favorite color and noted that many in the courtroom were wearing blue.
“I miss her and I never got to tell her goodbye,” Pistole said. “I never got to tell my mother goodbye.”
“I had to watch as her ashes were dropped into the ocean and she’s gone,” Pistole said. “I never got to say goodbye.”
She said her mother was religious and had cared about the person who ultimately would kill her. She said that her mother was even worried when she had to have surgery that the agency would assign her a different caregiver.
She said Yusko has shown no remorse for the killing.
And she said she has been unable to find any reason for the murder.
Pistole said to Yusko who was sitting at the defense table: "The only reason that I have come up with is that you’re just plain evil."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida caregiver gets 60 years prison for killing elderly woman
