When mothers murder their children
Read Time:3 Minute, 51 Second
Bill Cosby told audiences during his comedy routine that his father established their relationship when Bill was seven years old. His dad looked at him and said “You know, I brought you in this world, and I can take you out. And it don’t make no difference to me, I’ll make another one look just like you.”
It never occurs to us that anyone, any parent, would ever do that. Who murders their own children? When Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub, she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, and believed the devil was speaking to her. Yates was obviously severely mentally ill, and as horrific as her crimes were, we have to realize that in her case, she was impaired. There are two other mothers whose crimes were known around the world, two other mothers who murdered their own children, and who were not impaired by anything other than their own selfishness.
In 1995, Susan Smith placed her two sons, 3-year old Michael and 14-month old Alexander into her car and watched as it rolled into a lake, drowning her own children. Smith did this in order to win back the affections of a man with whom she had been having an extra-marital affair. Smith first claimed an African American man had carjacked her, stealing the car with her two young sons still in the backseat, but as the investigation gained steam, police eventually arrested Smith. The car was found by divers, with the two young boys still inside.
Diane Downs arrived at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital on May 19th, 1983, a gun shot wound in her arm. Downs claimed a man had carjacked her on a rural Oregon road, shot her and her three children and left. Her three children, Christie, age 8, Cheryl, age 7 and Danny, age 3, were all seriously wounded in the attack, and Cheryl died from her injuries. Diane Downs’ demeanor, according to police, was calm, too calm for a woman who had just witnessed such a traumatic event. Diane Downs, like Susan Smith, was having an affair with a man who did not want children, and chose to murder one of her own daughters, and attempt to murder her other two children, to win this man back.
All three of these women are incarcerated. Andrea Yates is in a mental hospital, while Susan Smith and Diane Downs are in prison. Diane Downs has been denied parole each time she has been eligible, the last time being in 2010. Susan Smith will be eligible for parole in 2024.
In the early hours of Tuesday, May 15th, neighbors of 33-year old Tonya Thomas heard their doorbell ring. Upon opening the door, they found three children from next door, Thomas’ children, standing on the porch. At least one of them was bleeding. As the neighbors scrambled to find a towel and call 9-1-1, a calm voice in the darkness told the children to go back to the house. That voice belonged to Tonya Thomas. Thomas shot and killed her four children that morning. Joel, Jazlin and Jaxs Johnson were found dead inside the house, and police believe Johnson shot Jaxs while he slept. The oldest daughter, Pebbles Johnson, was found on the front lawn. Police drove onto the lawn and tried to get Pebbles Johnson to paramedics nearby, but she died before they could reach the medical personnel. Tonya Thomas took her own life after shooting her four children.
Why? Why did Tonya Thomas murder her own children, all teenagers, all filled with promise and hope for the future? What will we learn about Tonya Thomas over the coming weeks and months? Why would any sane mother, any sane parent, murder their own children? I use the word sane because Andrea Yates does not figure into this equation. She was mentally ill, her symptoms ignored by many in her own family, and she was not legally responsible for her actions. Susan Smith and Diane Downs were simply selfish, narcissistic women who saw their own children as inconveniences, things in the way of their wants and needs.
That calm voice in the darkness, calling her children back to their own deaths. The voice of the woman they trusted, the woman who was supposed to keep them safe from harm, the woman who ended four young lives and her own.
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You got me curious so I looked it up and found this:
A 1999 US Department of Justice study concluded that between 1976 and 1997 in the United States, mothers were responsible for a higher share of children killed during infancy, while fathers were more likely to have been responsible for the murders of children age 8 or older. Furthermore, 52% of the children killed by their mothers (maternal filicide) were male, while 57% of the children killed by their fathers (paternal filicide) were male. Parents were responsible for 61% of child murders under the age of five; filicide is the third leading cause of death amongst American children five to fourteen years old.
Found this on Wikipedia and thought your readers might appreciate it. This was a very good article Erin, and clearly you know your stuff. Well reported.
Good research Jerry.
This is a well prepared article and matricide is more common than one would think. In reality most cases of child murder are related to God and/or love with the killing parent being unstable in the first place. It rarely happens in established families.
When I was younger than I am now I read a study about rats and the effects of overcrowding. When the population was stable the rat community did OK. When allowed to over procreate the rats went nuts, destroying nests, each other, and the very young. Mothers ate their children, not because there wasn’t enough food but not enough room. It was then I vowed not to have any children.
Now I am doing my best to remember the study but my brain is not working as I’d like. Grief and stress will do that to a person so I’m being patient and hoping everything gets back onto an even keel.
Anyway, I believe what is happening to these women was foretold by the rats.
I know the study of which you speak Connie, but rat behavior is hard wired, inherited, genetic. That is not the case of humans who kill their young. This type of behavior is based on rational choice. They kill for reasons of vengeance or other personal gain, often related to the nuttiness of religion or love as Tim mentions.
Unfortunately, infanticide is not anything new. It has plagued every society throughout the ages. In the early 1700’s in London alcoholism was so bad that mothers would kill their children to sell their clothes for more gin. Even today in some countries parents sell their children into slavery for fates that may be worse than death.