COLORADO SPRINGS — A Colorado Springs man who stabbed his two young siblings to death has been sentenced to 96 years in prison.
The Gazette reports 22-year-old Malik Murphy was sentenced Friday for the October 2017 deaths of his 7-year-old brother, Noah, and his 5-year-old sister, Sophia. Murphy pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and will serve two consecutive 48-year sentences, as well as a concurrent 16-year sentence for trying to kill his father by stabbing him in the neck.
Prosecutors say Murphy used a hunting knife to stab the children at the family’s home in Colorado Springs. His father awoke to screams and was stabbed while disarming his son.
According to court records, Murphy told police he planned to kill his entire family and bury them in the backyard.
His plea comes after more than two years of attempts to prove claims of insanity and that he did not know right from wrong. A state psychiatric evaluation determined in March that Murphy was “completely sane.”
