Connecticut Siblings Sentenced In 2017 Triple Murder Of A Family During Botched Drug Deal

A Connecticut drug dealer and his sister were sentenced this week in the gruesome triple murder of a family more than four years ago.

Sergio Correa, 30, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 2017 killings of Kenneth Lindquist, his wife, Janet Lindquist, and their son, Matthew Lindquist, in New London Superior Court on Tuesday, the Norwich Bulletin reported.

“I don’t know if this will bring you closure, but I hope it brings finality to your suffering,” Judge Hunchu Kwak told friends and relatives of the Lindquists after handing down a 105-year sentence to Sergio Correa.

Kwak added he was at a “loss for words on the brutality and vicious acts of violence,” referring to the trio of Christmas-time killings that rocked the tiny Connecticut city of Griswold.

Sergio Correa’s adopted sister, Ruth Correa, received a 40-year sentence after taking a plea deal with prosecutors in May 2021 in which she agreed to testify against her sibling in exchange for a less severe sentence. Sergio Correa was then convicted by a jury in December.

“I can easily say it’s the worst murder case I’ve seen, especially in our jurisdiction,” Judge Hillary B. Strackbein said after Ruth Correa’s sentencing, the Hartford Courant reported.

During trial, prosecutors argued that Sergio Correa, who knew Matthew Lindquist, had orchestrated a plan to trade heroin and cash to the slain 21-year-old for guns and a safe, which were stored in the Lindquist family’s home. 

Sergio and Ruth Correa descended on the Lindquists’ home on Dec. 19, 2017 to carry out the coordinated exchange. Matthew Lindquist panicked and reportedly fled the premises, WFSB reported, and prosecutors said he was fatally attacked with a machete in a nearby wooded area by the Correas

Ruth Correa, who claimed her brother masterminded the chain of events leading to the triple murder, took the stand during his trial and accused Sergio Correa of forcing her to stab Matthew Lindquist, according to the Norwich Bulletin. 

“He chased [Matthew] and hit him in the head with the machete,” Ruth Correa told the jury.

She testified that Sergio Correa “made” her “stab” Matthew Lindquist with a blade. She also recounted how Matthew Lindquist made “gurgling” noises as the young Connecticut man laid dying in the woods. 

Sergio Correa then struck Kenneth Lindquist in the head with a baseball bat, killing him, inside the family’s home, prosecutors said. 

“I heard a cracking noise — his skull,” Ruth Correa testified.

Janet Lindquist was then beaten and strangled to death by Sergio Correa, prosecutors said. Ruth Correa also hit the family’s dog, Skyler, with a golf club during the home invasion.

The pair of siblings ultimately absconded with the family’s Christmas gifts and a vehicle from the home. They torched the Lindquists’ property before fleeing; Skyler, who survived the golf club attack, died in the fire.

Dozens of friends and family members of the slain family packed this week’s sentencing hearings.

“This has been the most tragic and devastating moment I have ever experienced,” Danielle Lindquist, Matthew Lindquist’s sister, said in a victim impact statement on Tuesday, WTNH reported.

Eric Lindquist, Kenneth and Janet Lindquist's other son, described the Correa siblings as “evil soulless creatures.”

“They had an entire life ahead of them, arguably the best part of their life together, that was senselessly taken from them,” he said of his parents.

The New London State’s Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to Oxygen.com’s requests for comment on Wednesday morning.