A woman who admitted to helping kill her 81-year-old mother at a senior living facility in Norfolk was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison.
Prosecutors described 53-year-old Heather Cummings as showing “no remorse and no accountability” as they recounted the events of June 30, 2024 — the day her mother, Cleo Loizides, was found dead at Commonwealth Senior Living on Poplar Hall Drive.
Initially, Cummings claimed her mother had likely died of natural causes. But during the investigation, she later confessed to holding down her mother’s wrists while her 24-year-old son, Clifton Cummings, allegedly strangled Loizides with a handbag strap he had purchased from a nearby Dollar Tree.
During the attack, prosecutors said Cummings told her mother: “This is for the best. You know what you did to my dad.”
On the stand Friday, Cummings said she missed her mother and wished she were still alive. She reiterated her belief that her mother was responsible for her father’s death and described experiencing physical abuse growing up, including being slapped and pushed down stairs. Still, she said, she loved her mother.
The defense argued that Cummings was in a state of emotional shock during the killing and claimed she had tried to stop her son but couldn’t. They emphasized that Cummings, who lived in Indiana, visited her mother only occasionally and never intended for her to die.
Prosecutors, however, pointed to Cummings’ statements about wanting to “live peacefully” with her husband and publish a book of her late father’s photography as evidence that she lacked genuine remorse.
Cummings’ husband was visibly shaken in court as the sentence was read aloud. At one point, he was overheard asking the defense attorney if anything more could be done.
Clifton Cummings is set to face a separate bench trial for his alleged role in the murder. That trial is scheduled for August 4.
