A Kentucky woman has been sentenced to decades behind bars after admitting she shot her mother to death earlier this year.
Brianna Rich, 27, received a 35-year prison sentence on Monday following a guilty plea to murder last month. Authorities say that on the night of March 14, 2025, Rich called 911 and told dispatchers she had shot her mother, 50-year-old Carol Rich, roughly five times following a physical confrontation at their home in London, Kentucky. Asked by dispatchers to explain what had happened, Brianna Rich said her mother “came at me. Trying to hurt me and choke me. It’s been going on for a while now. I haven’t been able to go out of the house.”
Local Fox affiliate WDKY reported on the contents of the 911 call, noting that Brianna Rich appeared to be attempting to help her mother in the moments after the shooting. “I’m holding blankets on her wounds, and she don’t have a pulse. There’s a lot of blood,” she told the dispatcher.
Once dispatchers informed her that officers had arrived outside the house, a Laurel County deputy could be heard instructing her to get on the ground. Carol Rich was declared dead at the scene.
CBS affiliate WKYT later interviewed two of Brianna Rich’s sisters, Brittney Rich and Bridgett Rich, following the arrest. They told the station that Brianna had been living at their mother’s house while struggling with substance abuse issues that may have resurfaced after a two-year period of sobriety. Bridgett Rich also recalled an earlier incident in which Brianna allegedly tried to stab their mother, an attempt that was stopped by Carol Rich’s boyfriend at the time.
Brittney Rich did not mince words when describing her feelings about her sister’s fate. “I do want her to be in jail forever,” she said. “She is dangerous.”
