ELLENVILLE – "I knew she was a little crazy. I knew she was a little nuts," says the tattooed man wearing a sideways baseball cap on Warren Street on the afternoon Sarra Gilbert was found guilty of killing her mother several blocks to the north on July 23, 2016. "She's been going crazy ever since her sister passed away. She drowned that puppy. They say she tried to kill her kid. Her mom was a sweetheart who worked at Walmart alongside my dad for years."

A jury in Ulster County Court found the 28-year-old Ellenville resident guilty of killing her mother Mari, rejecting the defense team's argument that Sarra was mentally ill.

Two more men, one black and the other Hispanic, are sitting on a stoop around the corner on Market Street. They were new to the area but had heard all about Sarra Gilbert and how her sister, Shannan, had drowned on Long Island while working as a prostitute, leading to the discovery of a series of stalking murders of other prostitutes. They motioned toward a mixed-race couple standing across the street talking and smoking. Said they'd know more.

"I knew her. It's a big, bad tragedy," says the man. "She never seemed like that sort of person. I don't know what she was thinking at the moment it all happened but sometimes I think I might know how it must feel when situations go bad."

The woman with him nods and says she too knew Sarra Gilbert, as well as her two sisters and mom. She seems to hold back emotion as she turns. The two walk away.

In Orlando's market, the owner of the store that has shared his name for 40-plus years talks about how Sarra would come in for this and that every once in a while.

"This is a very small town," he adds. "The way this happened it was a big surprise. Things like this haven't happened here as far as I know. All I can say is that people react to what their lives bring them in different ways."

"No question here, she suffers from some form of mental illness, but a lot of people have disorders and still function," says Chief Phil Mattracion, a few days later, speaking to the law's standard that one must take medication if prescribed, or face the consequences, as well as his belief that she was guilty of knowingly and intentionally murdering her mother. "It was a tragedy. It was a tragedy, the environment Sarra Gilbert came through in her lifetime, but on July 23 Sarra Gilbert carefully planned out taking the knife, hiding it in the couch, getting the fire extinguisher and hiding that. She knowingly called her mother to come over. When she sat on the couch, she hit her with the fire extinguisher, stabbing her 227 times, spraying her with the fire extinguisher. When police arrived, she refused to answer the door. And why did she refuse? Because she knew what she had done was wrong. It was clear. She had a consciousness of guilt."

Back on the streets, a three-generation family is sitting in a minivan in a driveway. The mom starts to talk about what she remembers.

"One day she seemed normal and a couple of days later she was walking around all the time with her head down," she says. "I really believe it was something that snapped inside her head when they found out her sister had died. First the dog, then the son she tried to kill, then her mom. The boy's father stopped her before that turned into a crime. It was like she went into another world after her sister's death. It was like she was zombified." Sarra Gilbert's sister Shannan was found dead in 2011. Her mother spent the last five plus years of her life fighting to find out what happened. She lived in the same apartment house on Warren Street where her daughter lived. Where she ended up dying.

Chief Mattracion says the other Gilbert girl, Sherre, thanked him for telling her about the guilty verdict himself, and sent him photos of the family in happier times. He describes images of holiday gatherings, smiling kids with trophies, photos that could have come from any family album. He mentions years of sexual abuse Sarra endured from a former friend of the mother.

"This case has tragedy on many levels," he says. "But she paid her rent on time each month; you are looking at a person who was functioning in society. Both psychiatrists say she's schizophrenic, but that doesn't make you not responsible."

That first man on the street spoke in a similar fashion, before Sarra Gilbert's verdict was known by all.

"I think her mom said something very cruel that pushed her over the edge," he said, looking up and down the street as he talked. "But I still think she should go to prison. You face your life, you do. Let her do her time."

Sentencing for Sarra Gilbert, facing 25 years to life, will take place in Kingston on August 4.