Massachusetts mother sentenced to life in prison for beating 6-year-old daughter to death

WORCESTER — A Fitchburg mother was sentenced to serve life in prison after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of her 6-year-old daughter, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.

Shana Pedroso, 41, will not be eligible to seek parole for 25 years. Judge Daniel Wrenn issued the sentence in Worcester Superior Court today. The sentence also includes a 5-year probation term with the condition that she stay away and have no contact with the surviving victim.

On April 10, 2018, Fitchburg Police responded to 139 Stoneybrook Road after the girl was found unresponsive inside the family home.

The child was taken to UMass Memorial HealthAlliance in Leominster where she was pronounced dead. Her 9-year-old brother was also transported to the hospital with several injuries.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that the 6-year-old girl died from blunt force injuries and ruled her death a homicide. Her 9-year-old brother had injuries consistent with being physically abused.

Pedroso’s husband, Marvin Brito, was sentenced to prison in December 2021 after he pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter, permitting substantial injury to a child and reckless endangerment of a child in connection with the killing of the 6-year-old and the injuries suffered by the 9-year-old. He was sentenced to serve 8 years to 8 years and a day on the manslaughter charge and a concurrent 2-and-a-half-year sentence on the reckless endangerment of a child charge.

Brito was sentenced to 3 years of probation, to be served upon his release from prison, on the permitting substantial injury to a child charge.

Investigators from the Fitchburg Police Department and State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office worked together on this case with Assistant District Attorney Courtney L. Sans, Special Prosecutor John H. Melander Jr. and Victim Witness Advocate Erin Beech.