Minnesota woman admits squeezing life out of her mother 'like a python,' charges say

A 33-year-old woman admitted that she squeezed her mother "like a python" until she collapsed in the family's Scott County home and later died, according to a criminal complaint.

Cassandra A. DuSold, of New Market Township, was charged Monday in Scott County District Court with second-degree murder in connection with attacking Dorothy I. DuSold, 69, last Wednesday at the house in the 9600 block of Livery Lane.

Dorothy DuSold died Saturday at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.

Cassandra DuSold was arrested at the scene and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court appearance Friday. Court records do not list an attorney for her.

According to the complaint:

Fire Department personnel arrived to the home and gave aid to Dorothy DuSold, who was on the floor in the master bedroom.

Cassandra DuSold, the only other person in the house, at first told a sheriff's deputy that she was in the kitchen and heard a thud. The daughter said she went into the bedroom and saw her mother face-down on the floor. She said she called 911 and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Medical personnel tending to Dorothy DuSold at the home and later at the hospital said she had "significant bruising" around her eyes, injuries elsewhere on her face, blood behind her head and coming out of her ears, scratches on her upper left chest and slight bruising on one shoulder.

Cassandra DuSold soon changed her story while speaking with detectives and said the attack came after her mother "met her with claws" and scratched her on one arm, the complaint read.

The daughter said she put her mother in a chokehold, saw that she was bleeding and called 911.

Cassandra DuSold said she "squeezed like a python so hard" before they both fell to the floor, the complaint read.

"It's not right what transpired," the complaint quoted the daughter as saying. "It's not right at all."

Dorothy DuSold's survivors include her husband, Doug DuSold, who holds a seat on the New Market Township Board of Supervisors.