A Maine mother-of-three, behind bars for killing her 10-year-old daughter, has claimed that she too had been a victim of her 'controlling and abusive' ex-husband.

Sharon Kennedy, 41, was convicted in 2020 of depraved indifference murder in the death of her daughter, Marissa Kennedy, who was found dead on the floor of their home in Stockton Springs in February 2018.

'I feel like I was not heard,' the mother said, speaking publicly for the first time since her conviction on Patrisha McLean's podcast, Let's Talk About It!

'If I just knew about domestic violence in the beginning of this relationship, it would have come to a stop in a heartbeat instead of escalating like this,' she added.

The medical examiner described the case as 'battered child syndrome,' and prosecutors detailed horrific injuries sustained over months, including bleeding on the girl's brain and a lacerated liver. 

Authorities said Sharon and her ex-husband, Julio Carrillo, admitted to taking turns beating Marissa for five months leading up to her death.

During the trial, however, Sharon's defense attorney argued there was no physical evidence linking her to the murder of her daughter and claimed her confession to detectives was false. She did not testify in her own defense.

She was ultimately sentenced to 48 years at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, while Julio was handed 55 years on the same charge.

In her first public remarks since being labeled a killer, Sharon said she was unaware of how much control her husband had over her and admitted she 'kinda went along with it.' 

'I was not able to talk and tell my story, and it is time to get everything out there and let the public know what I went through and what kind of domestic violence that my daughter and I encountered,' Sharon said. 

'Everybody who testified, not once have I got pointed to as being the monster in this relationship, being the one who did this to my daughter,' she added. 'Everything pointed to him.' 

On March 3, from her jail cell, Sharon spoke with Patrisha McLean, host of the podcast and founder of the domestic abuse nonprofit Finding Our Voices.

She went all the way back to the first time she met Julio, a man she remembered as nothing but 'kind' when they worked together at a Wal-Mart in New York in 2013, when she was around 29 years old.

One of the first things Sharon claimed he did when they started seeing each other was consistently tell her there was a bomb under her car - which, she said, there never was. 

She said the lie was merely an excuse for Julio to spend more time with her and handle her transportation. 

In New York, Sharon explained, she had a strong support system, with family, friends and a busy schedule that included several jobs, one of which involved working with children.

After the pair's honeymoon in Maine, however, they moved to Bangor because Julio 'thought Maine was a nice place,' despite Sharon not knowing anyone there. 

She claimed it was at this point that Julio began increasingly isolating her and subjecting both her and Marissa to physical and emotional abuse. 

During the podcast, the mother described multiple forms of abuse, some of which she listed out: 'Broke my eyeglasses so I couldn't see, forced me to have sex even in front of my kids and strangled me in front of Marissa until I thought I was gonna die.'

Several of these incidents came to light during her 2020 trial, where multiple witnesses and neighbors described disturbing behavior and patterns of abuse in the family. 

In one reported incident, a witness said Julio stomped on the gas while Sharon leaned into the car to buckle in her son. In another, he allegedly kicked her knee as she struggled with groceries.

'He thought it was funny to do that,' Sharon said during the podcast episode.

McLean, who attended the trial to report for her local paper, said witnesses repeatedly described Sharon as deliberately keeping her head down and avoiding everyone in the neighborhood. 

Sharon's own father also stated that Julio changed his daughter entirely, turning the once caring, loving mother into a 'scared, domineered shell of her former self.' 

The incarcerated mother alleged to McLean that the abuse didn't stop at physical harm, but continued verbally, as she listed the harsh pejoratives directed at her daily. 

'The one that really got me was "worthless mother,"' she shared. 'It was a big putdown when I was the one taking care of the kids constantly.' 

During her trial, neighbors testified hearing a man in the family apartment calling Sharon 'retarded,' heard Sharon crying, and told how Julio regularly abused Sharon and her daughter, noting that everyone in the building feared him. 

Shortly after Marissa's death, Sharon told police she took part in the abuse. 

In recorded interviews, she changed her story multiple times, saying she hit her daughter and stood on her calves as the girl knelt naked on the kitchen floor. 

According to court documents viewed by the Daily Mail, Julio told police that he and Sharon punished Marissa by forcing her to kneel on the kitchen tile - a surface that caused more pain - and raising her hands above her head while they whipped her repeatedly with a leather belt. 

But a photo shown at trial showed both Sharon and her daughter disrobed and kneeling on the floor with their hands in the air. 

During the podcast, Sharon claimed that her husband was actually the one who stood on Marissa's calves and she alleged that he sexually abused both her and her daughter in that position.

'Just watching him do what he did to her, and she had to watch the same thing happen to me,' the mother said. 

'The day she passed away, he showed no remorse at all,' she added. 'Not a single tear came from him. Nothing.'

Previous court records also claimed that the pair would hit the 10-year-old girl with open hands and fists in her abdomen and sides, or use a metal mop handle until one day it broke from the force of the blows to the child's ribs.

When the parents were not beating her, documents claimed, they would lock Marissa in a closet for long periods of time. Sharon also reportedly told police that her daughter would scream nonstop during her punishments. 

Prosecutors said the abuse, which began in October 2017, continued for months until February 22 or 23 the following year, by which time Marissa could no longer walk or speak without slurring. 

Julio told police that his wife believed Marissa was faking her condition, so she beat her at least one more time. 

Sharon later told police that after Marissa's death, her husband moved her body to a different location in the house in an attempt to conceal the crime. 

After a 911 call, Marissa was found by police in an upstairs bedroom, on the floor under a blanket. 

State police said the couple's two younger children, then aged one and two, were in the home at the time of their older sister's death. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) took custody of the children. 

In 2019, Julio pleaded guilty, and the following year, a jury found Sharon guilty of the same offense.

After Sharon was sentenced, the DHHS released a 12-page report detailing two years of interactions with the family by police, medical staff and DHHS caseworkers. 

The report highlighted many red flags, including Julio's insistence on being present whenever Sharon or Marissa were questioned. 

During the prison interview Sharon reflected on what her daughter's life would be like now.

'If she was still living right now, she would be graduating from high school this year,' Sharon said on the episode in regards to her daughter.

'Her life was taken way too soon, at 10 years old, and what he did to her was the worst thing that a mother can see happening to her child.'

In the past six years, Sharon said she became a certified victim advocate, helping other inmates recognize the abuse they experienced, and has also begun a parenting class.

She added that she is continuing her education and working toward a bachelor’s degree while behind bars. 

'I’m bettering myself to prove to the outside world that I’m not the person that everybody thinks I am,' Sharon said.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Sharon's attorney, Chris MacLean of Dirigo Law Group, and Julio's attorney, Darrick Banda of Bourget & Banda, for further comment.