A Ventnor woman admitted using the police baton of her deceased father in the brutal killing of her mother and grandmother inside the condominium the three women shared.
Heather Barbera, 43, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury on Tuesday.
She faces more than 40 years in prison, under the plea agreement.
The Ventnor woman said she and her 67-year-old mother, Michelle Gordon, had gotten into a verbal altercation July 7, 2018, when Gordon struck her in the head with a flashlight.
"You and she then engaged in punching, kicking and wrestling with one another, correct?" attorney James Leonard Jr. asked Barbera, who answered, "Yes."
At some point, Barbera got the police baton, which was her father's when he was a New York City police officer. She then struck her unarmed mother at least five times, she said.
Barbera admitted that she was not in fear for her life at the time she struck her mother.
When her grandmother, Elaine Rosen, 87, tried to intervene, she was also fatally struck.
"This was a very difficult case for a lot of reasons," Leonard said outside the courtroom. "Hopefully today's plea can bring forth some measure of peace and closure to everyone involved."
But Barbera's uncle didn't believe his niece's account.
The women were on opposite ends of the room when he found them the day after the killing, Richard Rosen said outside the courtroom.
"I knew the apartment very well," he said. "It told the whole story."
His sister was a strong woman and had to have been taken offguard, Rosen said.
It appeared that his mother had just come out of her bedroom when she was attacked, according to him.
Under the plea agreement, Barbera faces 30 years for murder and would have to serve all 30 years. She faces an additional 12 years downgraded charge of aggravated manslaughter, which requires she serve 85 percent under the No Early Release Act.
That means Barbera would have to serve about 40 years and two months before she is eligible for parole.
With 15 months served, she would likely not be eligible for parole until she is about 82 years old, five years younger than her grandmother was.
Barbera was arrested in New York on July 11, 2018, three days after the women were found dead.
She was recently re-indicted on additional charges, including felony murder, which is a death that happens during the commission of another crime.
Her attorney then moved to have her statement to police tossed, saying she was under the influence of drugs and not mentally able to understand her rights.
