Have any of you heard of the mother who drowned 5 of her own children in a bathtub 5 years ago? She has had three court cases already but her recent court case just ended yesterday. All her life she suffered from psychosis, depression and suicidal attempts. She was married and had four children. However, the doctor told her husband that she suffered from postpartum psychosis, in which that happens because of being overwhelmed with the fact of having four kids. She had 5 kids in 6 years. After her fifth child, Mary, the only little girl, this woman had finally gone mad. Being very intact with her religion, she would have hallucinations of seeing her kids being stabbed and struggling and she would see Jesus hanging upside down on his cross. She then realized that she was being compelled and postdriven by Satan and because she loved her children, she needed to kill them and send them to Heaven with God before she got them possessed as well. She didn't want them going to Hell because of her. While she was drowning her kids, she actually knew what she was doing was terribly wrong, but again, the fact of the matter is, she was indeed insane and had no control over what she was doing. It even said on Primetime that after she had gotten out of the hospital, she was not to be left alone with the kids. The husband neglected that order. So one by one, she brought each of her children and drowned them. The oldest was 7 and the youngest, was only 6 months old. It truly is a devastating story.

This topic is very well open for discussion and debating. So please, discuss.

This is absolutely devastating... :( I pray that the mother finds help immediately, and that the children are happy in heaven...

Thanks Danielle. I was waiting for your comment because I knew you would have something very comforting to say. <3

:glomp:

I saw that on TV. It's just so sad. But I don't understand why the jury found her guilty of murder when she is clearly mentally ill. I believe she should not spend time in prison, but in a mental institution where she can be treated.

About the mental asylum, that is true. However, what if the doctors treating her say that a couple months later, she is all set and then goes out and does something even more insane?

This story is really disturbing. I believe that she should spend the rest of her life in a Mental Institution that is very secure while receiving extensive Psychiatric counseling because it is clear she is a danger to others around her. Although I agree that she did lose touch with reality and insanity drove her to this, I still feel that she should not be allowed to walk the streets again. She murdered 5 people and they her own children. Many individuals with Psychological illness probably will need extensive therapy for the rest of their lives because of the additional trauma of whatever crime they committed while going through Psychosis. It is really sad. I hope that she gets the proper help from Psychiatrists.

This whole situation is very, very sad. From what I've read (sorry, read it yesterday and can't find the links now), she will be confined to a mental hospital so that she can receive the much-needed help. She'll be there for years and the only way she ever will be released is through a very long process. Even if a multitude of doctors declare that she's stable enough to leave the facility, a judge must approve it, too. From what I understand, there's basically no chance of her ever leaving the mental-health facility, unless it's to be transported to a different one.

I completely agree that she never should have been sent to prison and I'm glad that they were able to give her a new trial so that she can now be in a more appropriate place.

May God bless the children, their father, the mother, and everyone else who has been directly impacted by this tragedy.

I remember this story, its been on tv for quite a bit :(
I m spirtual, but i dont think God would want someone to kill anyone in order to save them from evil. If the things she saw were real, i think it was acually a bad spirit in disguise >< If i saw something like that i'd go by my instict instead of what it looked all the world for looking like. (since she said it felt wrong when she did it, she was trying to be a good christian though_
Its kind of like two wrongs somehow trying to make a right (or maybe im thinking of that wrong xp )
but i think its very possible that she had a condition, and so its best that she goes to the institute where she can be helped and not hurt anyone else. its all very sad and a tragedy that it had to come to what happned, and that nothing was done before. :no:

Yeah, I'll say it too, that was a very good thing to say Danielle :yes:

That is terrible though, that lady needs an exorcism, she seems possessed by demons....

Poor children though, God bless them, I know they are in heaven somewhere... :glomp:

I think they should have consulted a priest who performs exorcism.

I stick by science. But I do think there are entities out there that control outrageous behavior.

I pray for those children. But how can her husband ignore the symptoms?

They didn't need a priest because Satan wasn't possessing her. She just believed in him and his ways. And the husband is terrible because he neglected all the most important orders. She was going crazy by her fourth kid, and yet, he wanted to have another. He left her alone in the house with the kids when he was picking up his mother-in-law.

Terrible. :no:

This story makes me very sad. Even if she was "insane" how could she sit there and drown her kids one by one in a bathtub. You would think something would snap inside of her while she's holding her children down and they're fighting to come back up for air. You think she would have stopped for a split second when that happened and tried to stop herself. And of course, none of the children were told enough to defend themselves. I honestly do not believe the whole insanity thing...if she was just insane and really loved her children, she would have stopped before all her children were dead. I wonder how she can live with herself day after day knowing that she sat there, holding each one of her five children down in a bathtub until they died a horrible death? How can she sit there knowing all five children she gave life too are gone because of her. If I was her, I couldn't live with myself...even if I did do it due to my insanity...I would kill myself knowing I did that. I honestly think she should have been found guilty, because whether or not she was insane, she still should get criminal charges against her for what she did. It would be like not charging a rapist with rape because he has a condition that makes him have to have sex. or not charging someone with burning down a building because they're a pyromaniac...there is no excuse to do something that horrible. She should not get to spend the rest of her life in a hospital, she should be in jail.

^You make excellent points, but the verdict of the other day's trial was proven to be innocent because she has suffered from post pardom psychosis her whole life. This insanity caused her to see violent hallucinations and to be driven by Satan.

And, it's also against the law to put someone in jail if they are indeed insane. On Primetime, there were psychologists saying that this story is unbelievable and that this woman indeed was not sane.

It's hard to grasp, but it makes sense once you figure out why she was doing this.

I know you are saying how could she kill her own flesh and blood? Well, an interviewer was filming her interview and she stated, "I know what I did was terribly wrong" but then she said she had to do it because Satan would condemn her kids to Hell.

:no:

^^Well, I understand that afterwards she feels horrible and all, and that others feels she is insane...maybe she is, but still, she should have been found guilty, but sentenced to life in a mental hospital..that way theres at least some justice for the children

I totally agree with you. I was talking to my dad about that last night and he said, "Well, rules are rules, you can't arrest her because it's against the law in her case. However, she deserves to be punished or at least put in an asylum to recuperate from her insane illness. Other than that, I don't know what justice is anymore."

My dad is right. She needs some sense knocked into her.

I hope I made sense.

The severity of Psychological illness can be very extreme from patient to patient. (I'm a Psychology major in College working on my degree). Based on what I have read and seen from this case, there is no doubt that this woman lost touch with reality. Now, I do believe in paranormal occurrences and such (Parapsychology), but you have to rule out the possibility of Psychological illness first. It is clear this woman is not of sound mind as she had suffered from a severe post pardom psychosis that left her incapable of making rational decisions. This last and most horrific crime that she committed demonstrated that the line between what was right and wrong was lost in her crazed state. I pray for her and her family. She needs to seek out Psychiatric treatment for the remainder of her life because it is something that needs to be constantly monitored.

I agree with a lot of your points. She should still be found guilty, after all, she admitted to killing her children. She may have suffered from dillusions, but she was in her right mind when she drowned the children. She could have sought help, as she had in the past when diagnosed with PPD.

Also, this was her second trial. The result of the first trial was overturned on appeal. She was acctually found guilty of the crime, and sentenced to life in prison w/o the possibility of parole. The court of appeals overturned the conviction based on testimony of one of the states witnesses. He testified in the retrial, but the testimony thrown out was not to be brought up again. So the first set of jurors found her guilty, but the second set found her not guilty by reason of insanity.

She will spend at least three years in a mental institution before being eligible for release, a fact which was not revealed to the jury until after deliberations. The release will hopefully be a lengthy process. Three years, and she can possibly be released for murdering her five defensless children. Doesn't sound like justice to me.

For the poster above who blames the father for wanting another child, how do you know it was him who wanted the 5th child? She could have gotten birth control which would prevent that from happening. The husband left her alone every day when he went to work, she deliberately waited until he left to do this despicable deed. She could premeditate the crime, but can't be found guilty. Go figure.

I'm sorry, and this may be the mother in me talking. I know and have family members who have horrible mental disorders and I still believe this.

If you kill your 5 children, You should be killed as well.

I am a firm believer in capital punishment (if there is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT proof of a murder) I really think people who rape kids should also be put to death...but, that is a different issue.

I think that this woman will end up going to a mental institute and getting loaded up on meds (on tax dollars mind you) and end up sitting around for the rest of her life...while we pay for it.

I also think that there shouldn't be as many chances to appeal capital punishment.

Once again, these are only my OPINIONS. Please don't flame me for them :)

:yes: , I've never had heard of this.. so sad :(

I know that the mother had control over her own actions, but i think the husband is also to blame. He should have never left her alone with those children because now there is no turning back

Excuse me - hasn't anyone considered the link between these extreme drugs and psychosis? It's a fact that the doctors had just abruptly taken her off of them (I think it was Zoloft but I'm not sure) and was released to go home when this happened and there was a lot of investigation to determine what responsibility they had. These doctors are supposed to be all-knowing and the husband trusted them. There are quite a few studies now looking at the harm of these pharmaceuticals given to treat depression, not just on someone's mental state, but on their livers and general immune systems with all the side effects. I'm sorry but it makes me sick the profits that are being made on some of these dangerous, often experimental drugs. No thank you -I'll stick with homeopathy, herbs, and good nutrition. -bwtw