Salem woman serving life says addiction to blame for mother's violent murder

A Salem woman serving life in prison for bludgeoning her mother to death in 2013 wants her story to serve as an example of the horrors of drug addiction, she told a Westmoreland County judge.

In a legal appeal, Sarah Vercauteren, 30, contended she received bad advice when she was advised to plead guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. She sought for Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani to overturn her conviction and send the case to trial.

“All I’m saying is my mother and my son would want me to have something less than life (in prison.) Part of me knows that wasn’t me that day,” Vercauteren said in court Thursday.

Feliciani denied her appeal, saying it was filed more than a year after the deadline to do so.

Police said on Dec. 31, 2013, Vercauteren hit her mother, Dawn Wagner, 18 times with a hammer then strangled her after she refused her request to borrow a car. In court on Thursday, Vercauteren said the attack was the result of using heroin for years.

In the three years since being sentenced, Vercauteren she said she has turned her life around. She told the judge that she meets regularly with fellow inmates, talks about her past and the circumstances that led to her murder conviction.

“We all know what happened,” Vercauteren said. “I’m not asking you to take back my sentence. I am at a better place in my life now. Even if my story about drugs and heroin can help one person, my mother would be very happy.”

Feliciani said Vercauteren’s message is one that should be shared and invited her to address participants of the county’s drug court.

“You’re taking the worst situation possible and turning it into something positive,” Feliciani said. “Your mother would appreciate that.”