An upstate New York woman who stands convicted of murdering her sister — a killing that reportedly stemmed from eviction threats — maintains her innocence and points the finger at the victim’s daughter instead.
She claims her niece committed the crime.
Jamie Busch received a sentence Thursday of 25 years to life in prison for killing 62-year-old Penny Busch in October 2024. Law&Crime previously reported that authorities accused Jamie Busch of strangling her sister, Penny Busch, at their shared home in Honeoye Falls, a village located roughly 18 miles south of Rochester, New York. After the killing, she disposed of the victim’s body in the Genesee River and threw three of her sister’s cellphones into a trash bin behind a Dunkin’ Donuts.
The defendant, 53 years old at the time she strangled her sister, also faced charges of tampering with evidence. A jury convicted her in February.
“I just want to say this is not the first time that she has tried to strangle a family member,” cousin Mary Shadders told local ABC affiliate WHAM at the time. “We’re glad that even though the jury couldn’t hear the whole story of her history that they were able to make the right decision.”
At the sentencing, Judge Stephen Miller stated that Jamie Busch showed no remorse “in any way, shape or form,” according to WHAM. Jamie Busch delivered a lengthy prepared statement in which she claimed she was “framed” and insisted her sister’s real killer remains “still out there.” She accused the victim’s daughter of the murder, though prosecutors confirmed the daughter was in a different state — South Carolina — when the crime occurred.
On Oct. 8, 2024, the sisters were together at Penny Busch’s home on Ontario Street, outside of the small village of Honeoye Falls, New York. Sometime after 4:49 p.m., the women entered into a “physical altercation,” and Jamie Busch strangled her sister to death, according to a criminal complaint obtained by local NBC affiliate WHEC.
Early the next day, the suspect took three of her sister’s cellphones and threw them in a trash bin at the village’s Dunkin’ Donuts, the court document continues. At some point during the following days, Jamie Busch allegedly moved Penny Busch’s body from her home and discarded it in the Genesee River.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a request to conduct a welfare check on Penny Busch’s home, and on Oct. 11, 2024, deputies arrived at her eight-acre residence. During their investigation, they “believed her disappearance was suspicious,” and a search began, involving K-9s, drones, and additional resources.
Three days later, investigators “developed information focusing the search to an area of the Genesee River in the Town of Rush,” the sheriff’s office said.
A body was discovered, and authorities later identified it as Penny Busch.
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