A conwoman - whose deceit ended with two of her victims taking their own lives - is awaiting sentencing.
After being taken in by Cotton, 33, Margaret McDonough and her daughter Nicola tragically took their own lives in a suicide pact on 10 May 2013.
Margaret, 55, died within hours while her daughter Nicola, 23, couldn't be saved and passed away three days later.
Before their deaths, Cotton had convinced both Margaret and Nicola that they were both facing 20 years in jail. Shockingly, Cotton had even managed to turn their family against them.
Her twisted scheme started in 2012, when she used a fake profile on a dating website to get in touch with Margaret's son Michael - who was in the RAF - and he soon fell for her lies. Quickly, he began speaking with Cotton on a daily basis, believing it to be the woman he'd met online, called Steph.
Cotton's elaborate web of deception went on further, as she later convinced Michael that 'Steph', who she pretended was receiving stem cell treatment from a company called Biotech, had been poisoned and claimed the government were trying to cover it up.
Prosecutor Frazier Gibson told the court: "Michael was led to believe biotech were trying to kill steph. Linsey Cotton told him the scandal was so big the government were trying to cover it up."
Using various aliases, Cotton contacted Michael over 33,000 times in the next 12 month. She had 15 phones, two laptops and two tablets which helped her con Michael and later Margaret and Nicola.
Cotton drew them into her twisted fictional world, telling Margaret and Nicola they had to help save Steph from Biotech and needed to write testimonies about how badly Michael had been affected. They agreed but later, Cotton told them they'd breached the security of the case and on the advice of a fictitious lawyer, she told Margaret and Nicola to flee to UK or face 20 years in prison.
Sickeningly, Cotton's deception tore the family apart as Michael believed that his mother and sister had breached the confidentiality agreement and put Steph in danger.
So convincing was Cotton's web of lies that one year after he sick plan, Nicola and Margaret went to a hotel to take their own lives.
Cotton admitted charges of fraud, falsely threatening Margaret and Nicola with prison and conning Michael out of money. She did not face charges relating to the tragic deaths of Margaret and Nicola.
In court, Cotton showed no emotion as she came face to face with the family of her victims and is now awaiting sentencing next month.