Kentucky Woman Enraged Over Lasagna Birthday Dinner Stabbed Her Mother 79 Times

Domestic violence isn’t always between partners, and one woman in Kentucky is still coming to terms with the fact her sister killed their mother in cold blood.

“We had the same parents; we had the same upbringing,” Ginger Goetz says of growing up with her younger sibling, Paige Conley, “but something within Paige was just not right from the get-go. I mean, something was just rotten inside.”

Paige initially seemed like a regular child seeking attention — but there were signs of trouble. She was expelled and sent to a religious boarding school, where she was also kicked out of after she was caught smoking pot.

Paige continued to push boundaries, and her behavior only worsened after her parents split. She once broke into her father’s home and stole his car. Other times, according to Ginger, she ruined family events and manipulated their mother, Carlene.

Carlene often excused her daughter Paige’s jealous and attention-seeking behavior. “My mom started to kind of age before our eyes,” Ginger recalls of those years.

With time, Paige became increasingly violent with family. “It was weird to me to see the two different sides to Paige, like Jekyll and Hyde,” Taylor Goetz says of her troubled aunt. “When Paige got that wound up, you never knew what she was going to do.”

One day, Paige went to a shelter to get a rescue dog. She returned to the Independence home she shared with her mother, and Carlene told her she had to take the dog back because they weren’t prepared to care for it. Upset, Paige began attacking Carlene with a ceramic bowl and tried to bash her head in, recalls Taylor, who witnessed the incident. When police responded to Taylor’s call for help, Carlene refused to press charges against her daughter.

“Paige was beyond just troubled and needy,” Ginger says of her sister. “She’s a very dangerous problem.”

After the troubling attack, Paige’s outbursts escalated in frequency and violence. “My mom was being terrorized in her own home,” Ginger says of Paige’s ongoing physical abuse and threats.

Ginger tried to help get Carlene out of the situation. “My mother would not let me call the police; she would not let me take her to the hospital,” she recalls, explaining, “You feel like your hands are tied. It’s a sickening feeling.”

One weekend, Paige attacked and battered Carlene with a broom and was put on a psychiatric hold. “Paige was in her early 30s when these sort of episodes were occurring,” Ginger says. “I was really frustrated by the fact that Paige could basically get away with anything she wanted.”

Ginger explains her mother “believed that Paige depended upon her and that Paige needed her more than anything and Paige took advantage of that.”

“It was a horrible, codependent relationship,” Ginger continues about her mother and sister. “It was just a vicious, ugly cycle that just went on and on and on.”

Finally, on March 15, 2015, Ginger was awoken to police at her door. “I knew in my gut, in my heart, that Paige had finally killed her,” she recalls.

Paige, police told Ginger, was arrested for murder. According to cops, Paige had phoned 911 the prior to evening and reported someone had killed her mother. When officers arrived at Carlene’s home, Ginger says her sister answered the door covered head to toe in blood.

Paige initially claimed she was taking a nap in the basement and came upstairs and found their mother dead on the floor. “Then she backtracked and told them that drug dealers must have broken in and hurt her mom because they couldn’t find Paige,” Ginger says of Paige’s varying accounts to police.

Ginger later learned what really happened the night her sister brutally killed their mother. According to Ginger, Carlene asked Paige what she would like for her birthday dinner but Paige refused to answer. When Carlene made her daughter her favorite meal, lasagna, Paige grew enraged and they got into a verbal dispute. “Paige grabbed the knife block and hit my mother in the head with the knife block, and then proceeded to stab her 79 times,” Ginger says, noting she also bit Carlene “dozens of times.” She adds, “My sister obliterated my mother.”

In June 2017, Paige was convicted of murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

“I think Paige Conley was born evil, and she will die evil,” Ginger says.

For more on this case, stream Evil Lives Here: “She Knew It Was Goodbye” on Max.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence or abuse from a romantic partner, you can visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1.800.799.SAFE, or text START to 88788 for help. Advocates are available 24/7 to help callers talk through their situation and connect them with local resources. There is no charge to reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.