A Connecticut woman who authorities say tortured her 70-year-old mother for more than three hours before giving up in apparent frustration when she wouldn't die has been committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital for 40 years.
Forty-eight-year-old Gail Litsky was found not guilty by reason of insanity of attempted murder and other charges in October. Hartford Superior Court Judge Jose Suarez committed her Tuesday to Whiting Forensic Division at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.
Authorities said Litsky went to her mother's West Hartford home last February, repeatedly struck her, cut her with a knife, burned her with a cigarette and choked her, before giving up when her mother wouldn't die.
Her mother, Evelyn Nirenstein, survived and testified at trial. She has said her daughter suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
