Vivian King was a worried mother 10 months ago, weeping for the TV cameras as she pleaded for help in finding her 17-year-old daughter, a nationally ranked high school track star.
King shed tears of a different sort on Thursday after being convicted of murdering her daughterby shooting her five times, and then leaving the body in the woods.
King, 43, could get 10 to 20 years in prison for third-degree murder, plus five years for use of a gun.
The body of Shilie Turner was found frozen and covered with debris in February, a month after King reported her missing. Weeks later, King confessed she shot her daughter in a drunken rage after the teenager came home late from a party.
But the woman recanted within days, saying she had only wanted to end 10 hours of interrogation, and she continued her denials throughout her trial. No physical evidence linked her to the slaying.
Defense attorney Jack McMahon, trying to show the confession was false, focused on discrepancies between her statement and the prosecution's evidence.
During her two days on the stand, King was asked by her lawyer if she killed Turner, and she replied: "No, no. I loved my daughter."
However, the woman admitted that her relationship with her daughter had become strained after Turner had an abortion several months before her death.