The plot thickens

It has emerged in the media (and here) this morning that Keisha had an older brother, Aiden, who died from SIDS in 2002.   Police will now be investigating Aiden's death.  It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals.   

What happened to Keisha?

Keisha Abrahams

Six year old Keisha Abrahams was reported missing from her Sydney home last Sunday morning, August 1st, after her mother discovered her missing from her bed and the front door slightly ajar.  There was no sign of forced entry.  There were reports of abduction flying around in the media.  Her mother and step father suggested she may have wandered out to play with the local stray cats, which she liked to do, and someone had taken her.  Keisha had last been seen the night before, by her mother Kristi Abrahams.  Or at least that is the story Kristi has told the police and media.

Robert Smith and Kristi Abrahams

In the course of the last week it has emerged that Keisha may not have been seen by anyone other than her mother or step father for as long as a month.  She had not been to school.  Keisha was also known to child protective services and other government agencies due to her troubled home life.  She was taken to hospital at about 18 months of age with a severe bite wound.  A human bite wound. An adult human bite wound.  Initially it was reported as confidential who the biter was, but a news service published the information on Thursday.  Keisha had been bitten by her mother.  And yet Kristi Abrahams is proclaiming "Stop judging me" to the media.

Kristi Abrahams has given birth to a son in the past couple of weeks.  It makes me wonder if maybe Keisha was going to be in the way for this new family, and needed to be removed. 

Keisha's step father Robert Smith has stated loudly in the media that the police believe he is a suspect and have said to him "just tell us where her body is".  Apparently we are meant to be outraged that the police asked him this.  Personally I am just outraged that a six year old girl has been allowed to disappear without a trace. 

Links 1 2

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