Charges: Scott Co. Woman Put Mother In Chokehold And 'Squeezed Like A Python'

NEW MARKET TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Scott County woman is charged with murder after allegedly putting her mother in a chokehold and squeezing "like a python," sending the mother to a hospital where she later died.

Cassandra Dusold, 33, was charged with second-degree murder on Monday in the death of 69-year-old Dorothy Dusold, according to Scott County court documents.

Dusold called 911 on Jan. 19 to report her mother was not breathing, a criminal complaint states. The Elko New Market Fire Department and Scott County deputies responded to her New Market Township home.

The mother was lying on the ground with no pulse. Dusold was the only other person home.

According to the complaint, Dusold initially told authorities she and her mother were in the bedroom eating and watching a movie. Dusold said she went to the kitchen to get tea and heard a thud, then found her mother on the floor.

Medical personnel noted "significant bruising" around the mother's eyes, as well blood coming from her ears, the complaint states.

Dusold later showed investigators a scratch on her arm, saying her mother attacked her and she hadn't told them the full story, according to the complaint.

She allegedly said she lied about hearing a thud, telling investigators, "I'm the thud."

According to the complaint, Dusold said her mother "met her with claws," and her "brain went into neutralize." She said she put her mother in a chokehold and "squeezed like a python so hard that it made her ribs hurt."

She called 911 after realizing her mother was bleeding. According to the complaint, she said she feels "f---ing terrible" about what happened, and she "fully knows right from wrong."

The mother was taken to a hospital, and on Saturday she was declared brain dead and taken off life support.
Dusold is in custody at the Scott County Jail.