Mothers who kill again and again

While I do not contest the existence of SIDS and other horrible genetic thingys which take the lives of little humans, I fail to see how four children, aged between a few weeks and three and a half years, can all die without warning. Children do not just die of congential defects. There are symptoms, warning of their impending fate. There is even some evidence that symptoms can be seen in SIDS babies, at least in hindsight.

It's one of those things which I simply find unbelievable. How could you kill your own children? Tiny babies. Again and again? Marybeth Tinning and Kathleen Folbigg did it.

Here are Marybeth and Kathleen's stories:

Marybeth Tinning

She looks evil even in photos.

The staff at the local emergency department were very familiar with Marybeth. She would come in with one of her children in her arms, dead or dying. Some hated her, some pitied her. Over 13 years 9 children of Marybeth's died.

One child, Jennifer, died of an infection. She was the first Tinning child to die. Doctors would blame genetic heart defects, SIDS, an unidentified genetic disorder for the other deaths. This had to be thrown into question when Michael died. Michael was Marybeth's fifth child. He was also adopted. Yet authorities did not question the Tinning children's deaths for many more years, not until after the death of her ninth child, Tami Lynne. Not until eight innocent children had lost their lives at the hands of their mother.

Marybeth eventually admitted to smothering her children. Her husband Joe seems to have not particularly cared either way - he couldn't even remember some of the childrens' names.

For Marybeth the motive seems to have been Munchausens by Proxy - she liked the attention given to a grieving mother. She enjoyed it after Jennifer died, so she thought she would repeat it. Again and again.

She was only charged with the death of Tami Lynne, as there was not enough evidence in the other cases.

Kathleen Folbigg



Kathleen Folbigg's first child Caleb died in February 1989, at just 20 days old. The official cause of death was SIDS.

Patrick Folbigg managed to live to be six months old before he too succumbed to SIDS. Sarah Folbigg made it to 11 months before SIDS claimed her life too. Laura lived even longer - she made it to 19 months. But she was too old for SIDS. The coroner referred the case to the police.

After Laura's death Kathleen and Craig Folbigg separated. Kathleen left many of her belongings behind. While cleaning up, Craig found a diary. Which, when he read it's contents, made him "want to vomit".

Kathleen felt neglected when the babies came along - the attention had shifted from her to the baby, and she didn't like it. It was like some morbid jealousy. She also had a furious temper, that she would take out on the baby if they did not do as she wished. She wrote in her diary of Laura:

"She's a fairly good-natured baby - thank goodness, it has saved her from the fate of her siblings. I'm sure she's met everyone and they've told her, don't be a bad or sickly kid, mum may, you know, crack. They've warned her - good."

During the police investigation, it emerged that Kathleen's father had killed her mother. Kathleen went to an orphanage and was adopted. Maybe it was in the genes. She wrote in her diary "Maybe I am my father's daughter".

Maybe she is just a selfish, selfish woman who should never have had children.

Read about Kathleen here and Marybeth here.

No Pardon for Karla

Canadian Parliament has just passed legislation to prevent Karla Homolka from receiving a pardon, as was previously the law in Canada.
The families of her victims must be so relieved.
Thanks to TheNag for letting me know.
Link

John Myles Sharpe - "The Mornington Monster"

John Myles Sharpe

John Myles Sharpe is one of the most callous killers Melbourne has ever seen. The community at large could not help but wonder - how can a man who looks so "normal" not just kill his wife, but his unborn child and two year old daughter? And not just kill them, but brutally murder them.

Here's a synopsis:

John Sharpe had been with Anna Kemp for a decade. They had met at the Commonwealth Bank where they both worked. They married in 1994 and had a daughter in 2002, Gracie, who was born with hip dysplacia which Anna tenderly nursed her through. When Gracie was about 15 months old, Anna fell pregnant again.

John decided that he did not want another child - one was enough of a burden. Even though he had agreed to have more children, he began to resent Anna and the baby in her womb. Without Anna knowing (I hope) John started plotting her death. He bought a spear gun, even though he had never shown any interest in spear fishing. He test fired it once in the backyard. The next time he used it, it would be to kill his wife.

Anna, John and Gracie

On the night of March 23 2004, John waited until Anna was asleep, then used the spear gun to shoot her in the head a point blank range. This didn't kill her, so he had to shoot another spear into her head. He then waited at least four days, taking Gracie to playgroup and going about life as normal, before late one night getting the spear gun out again. This time it was Gracie's turn.

He shot his 20 month old daughter in the head with a spear gun at point blank range. It didn't kill her and she started screaming. He then got the spears he had removed from his wife's head and fired them into his daughter. This still did not kill her. The screaming must have been horrendous by now. He then PUT HIS FOOT ON HIS 20 MONTH OLD DAUGHTER'S CHEST SO HE COULD WRENCH A SPEAR OUT OF HER SKULL and fire it into her again. Finally Gracie was out of her misery.

He cut up Anna's body and chucked it in the rubbish, along with Gracie's body and some of their possessions. For three months he lied to his family, Anna's family and friends and the public. He claimed that Anna was pregnant to another man and had left him.

Anna and Gracie

Eventually he confessed, after media and police pressure. The police found Anna and Gracie at the Mornington Rubbish Dump.

A further motive emerged after Sharpe confessed. He had been accused of molesting children several times in the past, although there had never been enough evidence to charge him. There is speculation that Anna found him molesting Gracie. I doubt whether we will ever know if this was the case.

I hope that every second of every day, all that John Sharpe hears are the screams of pain from his daughter. Screams from pain that he caused.

Links
 
Wikipedia
 
Mako

Joran Van der Sloot: Narcissism at its worst

The traditional gift for a fifth anniversary is wood. Joran Van der Sloot celebrated the fifth anniversary of Natalee Holloway's disappearance by killing Stephany Flores Ramirez. Van der Sloot has never been charged with Natalee Holloway's death, although he has been arrested twice in relation to it. Now, five years on, it seems pretty obvious that he is responsible for her disappearance. Of course, it always did - the only issue was proving it.

Natalee Holloway

Natalee Holloway was an American college student on holiday on the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 when she crossed paths with some boys: Joran Van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. She was last seen by her friends at 1:30am, May 30th.  When Natalee failed to show up for her return flight home, the three boys were questioned, and said they dropped her off at her hotel. They all denied knowing what became of her after this. Despite extensive searches, she has not been found.

In the five years since Natalee’s disappearance, Joran Van der Sloot has been arrested twice in relation to this, but no charges have been laid. He has made various confessions during this time, always retracting them at a later date.

Joran Van der Sloot

Van der Sloot has led a privileged life. The son of a prominent lawyer, he has grown up in Caribbean paradise. His behaviour is indicative of a young man who has always been given everything he ever wanted. He does not know how to handle it when someone says “no” to him.

Van der Sloot has been accused of being involved in female trafficking in Denmark, sourcing women from Thailand to work as prostitutes. In one of his many “confessions” about the Holloway case Van der Sloot claimed to have sold Natalee to a mystery man. There is apparently a recording of Van der Sloot and his father discussing the Holloway case, with Van der Sloot Senior saying “But what you've done is pretty bad. Human trafficking is a serious crime” (Foxnews). Like so many of his “confessions” Van der Sloot later withdrew his claim that he sold Natalee.

Stephany Flores Ramirez

Stephany Flores Ramirez was found dead, strangled, in a Peruvian hotel room registered to Joran Van der Sloot May 30th 2010; five years to the day after Natalee disappeared.  CCTV showed Stephany with Van der Sloot in the hotel foyer and then accompanying him to his room.  After his arrest, Van der Sloot confessed to Peruvian police.  He stated that the reason he killed Stephany was that she looked at his laptop, read emails about the Holloway case, and then began questioning him. He even claimed she hit him, causing him to lose his temper and strangle her.  I find this highly doubtful. How many times have you gone back to a hotel room with a new friend and decided to check their emails at 5am? I think it is way more likely that Stephany made the fatal mistake of saying “no” to Van der Sloot.

Van der Sloot is a narcissist in the worst possible way. The fact that he feels the need to confess and retract repeatedly highlights his narcissistic need for attention. He is currently facing extortion charges in the US after blackmailing the Holloway family – “give me $250,000 and I will tell you where her body is”. He received a 10% part payment, but did not give them any useful information. What a surprise. He is playing with them for his own amusement and narcissistic need for attention. Some media outlets are questioning whether he used this money to pay for his trip to Peru, and therefore to kill another victim. I think he would have killed someone regardless of where he was – Stephany was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

One would like to think that Joran Van der Sloot will put an end to all the speculation and provide truthful information to investigators about the location of Natalee Holloway. I believe he will only do this if he feels that he will benefit from doing so. I hope, for the sake of the Holloway family, that he decides to do the right thing. We will all just have to wait and see.

Links

 

Natalee Holloway Wikipedia
 
Joran Van der Sloot Wikipedia
 
Blogs for Natalee

Teen Angst: Pauline and Juliet

Teen angst is not a new issue - ask Romeo and Juliet. I have been fascinated with teen killers since I saw the film Heavenly Creatures. Here is the tale of this classic teen homicide with a twist:

Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme

Regardless of movies about shiny rings and big boats, I personally believe that Heavenly Creatures is both Peter Jackson's best work as a director, and Kate Winslet's first shining moment as an actress. It tells the true story of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme.



Pauline and Juliet were teens in 1950's New Zealand. They developed a very enmeshed, intense friendship where they would write stories together and live in a fantasy world that they created. There are some hints that the friendship had developed into a romantic relationship, but this is mere speculation. An example of Pauline's poetry:

"There are living amongst two dutiful daughters

Of a man possesses two beautiful daughters.

The most glorious beings in creation...

And above us these goddesses reign on high.

"I worship the power of these lovely two

With that adoring love known to so few.

'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel

That two such heavenly creatures are real....

And these two wonderful people are you and I."

Pauline's parents, especially her mother, became very concerned about the closeness of the friendship and tried to separate the girls. Fatal mistake.

Juliet was due to be moving to South Africa with her parents, and Pauline wanted to go with her, but her mother had explicitly forbidden it, so the girls came up with a plan. They would take Mrs Parker to a local National Park, hit her on the head with a brick, and it would look just like she had a bad fall. Pauline's father would be so upset, he would allow Pauline to travel with Juliet.

Like a lot of these plans, it did not go how they imagined.

They went with Mrs Parker to the park - Juliet had fetched half a brick from a pile and had put it inside a stocking and given it to Pauline- so far, so good. The plan was that Juliet would walk ahead, dropping a pretty pink stone on the path. When Honora Parker bent over to pick up the stone, the brick in her daughter's hand would end her life.

But Pauline's initial blows were tentative - enough to injure her mother, but not kill her. Juliet had to assist Pauline, and it became a horrible, bloody, messy death.

Above: The girls go to court (Juliet on the left).

The girls were charged the next day and both were eventually found guilty. One of the conditions of their sentences was that they were never allowed to contact each other again. That provision has always struck me as highlightling the futility of their act. These girls were in love with each other, whether it was romantic love or not. Yet their "black and white" way of looking at the world cost one woman her life and deprived the girls of what they wanted most in the world - each other.

Above: Pauline in the 1990's

As a Post Script, Pauline went on to live a very non-descript life in New Zealand. Apart from the fact that she is a devout Catholic, little else is known.

Above: Anne Perry in the 1990's

Juliet on the other hand changed her name to Anne Perry and is a very popular British crime author!!! She writes books set in Victorian England - personally I would prefer if she wrote more contemporary stories - like a story set in New Zealand in the 1950's.... Like Pauline she also turned to religion - in Juliet's case it was Mormonism. She has given one interview about the case, when Heavenly Creatures was first released. She stated that it was her loyalty to Pauline which motivated her in the attack, rather than any malice. Check out her website here.

I would recommend watching Heavenly Creatures.  While this story just happens to be my personal favourite example of teen angst, there is a new example of this type of crime all the time. Teens who want to be together, who see parents as an obstacle, so they remove them - literally.

In reality if they had enough patience to wait for a few years, they could be together. But teens don't think like that - and the black and white thinking results in dire consequences for everyone involved.

Links

Crime Library

Wikipedia

Paul Charles Denyer: The Frankston Serial Killer

Paul Denyer

There is something so much worse about crimes which happen in close proximity to where you live. The sense of closeness to the crime scene and the victims is so much more acute. This is how I feel about a series of murders which occurred in Frankston, a working class suburb of Melbourne.

Over a seven week period in 1993, three young women lost their lives and another older woman was lucky to escape with hers.

Elizabeth Stevens

The first victim was Elizabeth Stevens. A student, Elizabeth came home on the bus one rainy night. She didn't see the man hiding in the shadows as she got off the bus and made her way through the park to her aunt and uncle's house, where she was living. She was brutally attacked, with massive stab wounds and other knive wounds forming a criss-cross pattern. She was naked from the waist up, but had not been sexually abused.

Police canvassed the local area, knocking on doors and appealing through the media for any witnesses. Not only were they unable to find this killer, but soon he struck again.

This time the victim had some luck. Roszsa Toth, 41, was walking home from the train when she was violently attacked from behind. After fighting for her life, including biting the fingers of the attacker to the bone, Roszsa managed to escape. Initially the police thought that this attack may have been a mugging gone wrong, but it was quickly linked to the murder of Elizabeth Stevens.

 Debbie Fream

The third victim tore at the heart strings of the Melbourne community. Deborah Fream, 22, had given birth to her first child 10 days earlier. With a friend over for dinner, Debbie popped down to the local store to purchase a litre of milk. While she was in the store, her killer crept into the back seat of her car. Her body was found in a cow pasture a few kilometers away. She had been stabbed 24 times, but had not been sexually assaulted. The thought that a young mum could be taken from her local community so brazenly had the whole suburb of Frankston terrified. The streets were deserted at night. But worse was to come.

Natalie Russell

Natalie Russell was a 17 year old school girl, walking home from school along a popular short cut. It was a bright, sunny afternoon, and Natalie was in her school uniform. As she walked along this path a man crept out from behind a cut he had made in a chain-link fence. He grabbed her from behind and dragged her back through the fence before any of her school friends noticed. Her body was found later that night. She had been stabbed repeatedly and her throat had been cut. She had not been sexually assaulted.

But finally the killer had made a mistake: a piece of skin, not from Natalie, was found near her neck wound - probably the killer had cut himself during the attack. His car was also spotted, by an observant police officer, in the area at the time Natalie went missing. The officer had written down the registration of the car as it had no number plates. It was this information which lead to the arrest of Paul Denyer.

When police questioned Denyer he had cuts on his hands which would be congruent with the skin found at the scene. He claimed he had cut his hand on the fan of his car. Whilst waiting with a police officer, he noticed the crucifix around the officer's neck. This sight led to Denyer breaking down and confessing. He talked for days, and took police to the crime scenes to help find victim's wallets and reconstruct the crimes. He appeared to enjoy this process immensely.

POLICE: Can you explain why we have women victims?



DENYER: I just hate them.


POLICE: I beg your pardon.


DENYER: I hate them.


POLICE: Those particular girls or women in general?


DENYER: General.

Theorists and profilers indicate that one of the precursers to murder is cruety to animals. Paul Denyer fits this theory very well - he had an extensive history of animal cruelty and murder, killing a family kitten when he was 10 years old, disemboweling it and hanging it from a tree. Instead of playing with the usual things that would occupy a boy of his age, he grew up fascinated with his collection of knives and clubs and home-made slingshot-guns that fired pebbles or ball bearings. His murderous intentions started at an early age when he regularly dissected his sister's teddy bears with a homemade knife. He also killed his neighbours cat and her litter of kittens, in an extremely grotesque and bloody manner, only shortly before the murders, writing threatening messages on the walls in the cat's blood. He was obsessed with violent movies which he watched over and over. He told police that from the time he was 14, he knew he would kill, he was just waiting for "the silent alarm" to go off.

I have always wondered whether, because of his history, Paul Denyer could have been prevented from reaching the stage of serial killer, but realistically the answer is most likely "no".

Denyer in prison.

Paul Denyer recently applied to the prison system for permission to get a sex change operation. His request was denied.  It's difficult to know if this request was due to genuine gender dysphoria, or to serve some other purpose.

Links

Crime Library

Wikipedia

When relationships go bad.

Earlier this week Melbourne was horrified by a public display of domestic violence. 

A woman who was stabbed and set on fire at Bayswater in Melbourne's south-east on Tuesday morning has died in hospital.(Link)

Police say a man and a woman were seen arguing about 8:30am (AEST) at a petrol station before the woman was stabbed and the car was set alight.


A two-hour standoff followed between the man and police in a nearby church yard.


Capsicum spray and a non-lethal weapon were used to arrest the man, who is now under police guard in hospital.


The woman died yesterday about 6:00pm (AEST) in the Alfred Hospital after suffering burns to 100 per cent of her body.


Horrified onlookers earlier spoke about how they tried in vain to help the woman, but were prevented from doing so by a man wielding a knife.


Truck driver Beau Fleming heard an explosion at the petrol station on the Mountain Highway and says he then ran over and saw a car on fire, with a woman inside.


"It was completely engulfed. She was completely engulfed. There was just black smoke pouring out from underneath the servo," he said.


"I was just trying to get her away because we didn't know if they had shut the valves off to the pumps or anything."


Mr Fleming says he grabbed an extinguisher so he could help put the fire out.


He told Fairfax radio there was a man preventing bystanders from going near the car.


"There was of lots of other stuff going on... at this stage she was still rolling around, laying near the car," he said.


"Then one of the other people on the scene, he went running over and he said that she's actually bleeding and stuff like that.


"That's when we realised she had been stabbed as well."


Mr Fleming says before bystanders could go to the woman's aid, a man used his car to intervene.


"The male was running around, waving knives and everyone was trying to help the female obviously ... it all went pear-shaped real quick," he said.


"[I] tried to put her out. Me and a few others eventually got her out and another person who was there had one of those Hummers.


"He jumped in that to try and run him over so we could have access to her - and then when he got up he just fled."


The man was taken to hospital for the treatment of minor injuries before being questioned by police.

Other reports stated that the man shouted "let her burn" at the people trying to assist the victim.

This attack has triggered a multitude of emotional responses from Melbourne residents, as these events often do.

Meanwhile in Queensland there has been an equally emotional response after Susan Falls, a 42 year old woman, who had suffered years of domestic violence, was found not guilty of murder in the death of her husband Rodney in 2006. (Link)  The Crown Prosecutor said that she did not have to kill him, she could have just left him.  She had left him before, but he had tracked her down and threatened her until she reunited with him.  Susan testified that Rodney had told her to pick which one of their children he should kill on her mother's birthday, which was to happen three days after she shot him.

Maybe he wouldn't have done it.  Or maybe he would have stabbed her and set her alight at a petrol station, and she acted to save the life of her and her children.  We don't know what would have happened, but we do know that Susan Falls believed her husband would carry out his threat.  She believed it enough to kill him.

Domestic violence seems to be a throw back to the days when a woman was the property of her father, and then her husband.  In most places, many years ago, rape was not a personal crime, but a property crime - you had stolen or soiled the property of a man, ie the father or husband. 

I'm sure in many of these cases the behaviour is learnt from the generation before.  It would be nice to think that eventually it will be a thing of the past, but with incidents such as the one in Melbourne this week, that may still be a while coming.