LARGO, FL – A Florida man was found guilty Thursday of a gruesome double homicide that took the lives of a grandmother and her teenage granddaughter in their own home. Sage Curry, 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after jurors rapidly rejected his plea of insanity.

Curry had followed 78-year-old Zhaneta Dindi and 17-year-old Hera Dindi to their residence before committing the brutal attack in April 2021. His statement to the police described how he used “the sharpest kitchen knife he could find,” to carry out the killings while the victims were asleep.

The murders shocked the quiet Largo community, as they were considered to be an apparently motiveless act of violence. Curry inflicted multiple stab wounds on Zhaneta Dindi while she slept on her couch, later admitting to moving her body in an attempt to stage an accidental death. Despite Zhaneta’s granddaughter, Hera, valiantly attempting to intervene, she too was fatally stabbed.

Sage Curry was apprehended following the incident after seeking medical assistance for injuries incurred during the attack. Authorities were alerted by a neighbor who had been approached by Curry for help, leading to the discovery of the harrowing scene with both victims deceased from their wounds.

The tragic end of the lives of the Dindi family members left the immigrant family from Albania devastated. “We came here for a better life, and now it’s been torn apart,” a family member reportedly expressed in court, mourning the loss of their loved ones and the future that Hera Dindi would never have the chance to build.

As the community comes to terms with the senselessness of the crime, questions arise over the state of mental health support systems, with Angela Curry, the perpetrator’s mother, highlighting the struggle to obtain adequate care for her son’s mental illness prior to the incident.