INCOMPREHENSIBLE

It is the instinct of the smallest brain reptile to protect their young. It is second nature to almost every living being to do that no matter what the cost. And most of us would not give a second thought to giving up our own lives, so that our children, get a chance in this world. So what happens when a mother kills her children. Is she evil, is she mentally is, or did she simply want to rid herself of the responsibilities of parenthood. Maybe it is all 3, for myself personally I think in some cases it could be a combination of them all. One thing is for sure there are few who have a lot of understanding when this happens. We are going to take a look at a couple of cases and we can draw our own conclusions as to what the case may be.

On November 22, 2004 Dena Schlooser took a knife and amputated her 11 month daughter's arms, causing her death. The police found her sitting down covered in blood holding a knife singing Christian songs. After she was arrested the police could hear her chanting thankyou Jesus, thankyou Lord. Dena meet her husband John Schlooser and I suppose it was a match made in heaven. After they married they conceived there daughter Margaret. The day after Margaret's birth Dena attempted suicide and was place in a psychiatric hospital. She was diagnosed with bipolar with psychotic features. In the twisted mind of Deena her daughter was destined to marry Doyle Davison, who was the pastor of her church. She had told her husband she wanted to give the baby to Davison the day before she attacked her. The following day she claimed God told her to remove the arms of her daughter. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was a roommate of Andera Yates, who will we discuss later. I believe that in this case mental illness was the factor. Her husband was later given a evaluation and diagnosed with narcissist personality traits. He stated he lacked what it took to protect his children from their mentally ill mother. I guess they where not such a match made in heaven after all.

We all remember the case of Susan Smith. This is a women who strapped her young children in their car seats and then watched as the car sank to the bottom of the river. She then lead police on a 9 day goose chase of a black man she claimed stole her car with her babies in it. Knowing all the while exactly what had happened to them. At the end she confessed to killing her babies. Susan Smith's life was to say the least unstable from a young age. She had known sexual abuse from her stepfather and her biological father committed suicide. Susan's first attempt at suicide was at the age of 13. And there where a couple more attempts before she married David Smith. The couple had two sons Michael and Alex. The marriage did not last and Susan became involved in a relationship with Tom Findley. He wrote her a letter stating he was ending the relationship because he did not want children. Experts where called in to testify that Susan was mentally ill at the time of the murders and her judgement at the time was impaired. But really I do not believe mental illness had much to do with this crime. Granted she had a hard life and suffered from abuse. She knowingly lied for 9 days to the world and people who loved her the most as to what happened to her children. It is safe to say she knew the boys would drown if allowed to sink to the bottom of the river and yet she stood and watched it happen. I believe the little boys got in her way of what she wanted after the split from their father, and her lost relationship with her then true love Tom Findlay. In this case this person was led by evil and pure selfishness. Sadly two little boys lost their lives because of it. She is doing a life sentence and is up for parole in November,2024, just a couple of years away. I think her chance for getting parole are slim to none. At least we should hope so.

Andera Yates is a woman who clearly suffered from serious mental illness. However is mental illness the only reason she committed her crimes? In the state of Texas in order to get a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict you have to prove at the time of the crime, you where unable to tell right from wrong. Was Andera in that condition? Lets take a look at the case. Andera married Rusty Yates in 1993, the couple announced they would have as many children as nature would allow. Their first child Noah was born in 2/1994. After the birth of her 4th son Andera became depressed. In July of 1999 her husband came home to find her shaking and chewing her fingers. She attempted suicide the next day and was placed in a hospital and give antidepressants. She was released but soon after held a knife to her neck and begged her husband to let her die. She was admitted to the hospital again and given the anti psychotic drug Haldol. Her condition improved right away and she was released. Later in July 1999 she had a nervous break down which included two suicide attempts and two visits to the hospital. She was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis.

Andera's first doctor told them not to have more children because it would guarantee future psychotic depression. So keep in mind they where told it was going to happen, not that there was a chance of it happening or that it might happen. Seven weeks later she was pregnant again. So they just threw caution to the wind, and risked her mental health and ability to care for even one child much less 5. Andera stopped taking Haldol and gave birth to her daughter Mary. And for a time seem to cope fine until her father died. Andera stopped taking medication mutilated herself and read the bible all the time. She stopped feeding Mary and was placed in the hospital in a catatonic like state. At the time of the murders she was under Dr. Saeed's care. Her husband left for work the day of the murders ignoring the doctors orders to supervise Andera at all times. His mother was going to show up an hour later and take over for Andera. With in that hour of being left on her own, Andera drowned all 5 children in the bath tub one by one.

At first the not guilty by reason of insanity defense did not work because they could not prove Andera could not tell right from wrong at the time of the crimes. And I can see why, she had made a statement that she had filled the tub a couple of weeks earlier and was going to drown the children then but decided against it. To me that shows she knew what she was doing. She was however mentally ill and in a retrial was sentenced to the North Texas State Hospital. Her life sentenced was overturned and later she was sent to the Kerrville State Hospital. Was Andera Yates mental illness the only cause of the murders. Maybe the number of children the Yates had was not completely her idea and she felt trapped. Maybe she was frustrated over all the task of caring for a large family. I guess I have mixed feelings about this case. Maybe a tiny bit of evil with a huge amount of mental illness drove this mother over the edge and to kill all 5 of her children.

On May of 2003 Deana Laney took her 2 young sons out to the yard. She then crushed their skulls with a large rock, killing them. She attempted to kill her youngest son the same way. He lived but suffered severe head injuries. Deana claimed God told her to bash in her sons' heads. She attended Assemblies of God church. A year earlier she told church members the word was coming to an end. And that God had told her to get her house in order. All mental health experts that where assigned to the case concluded that Deana suffered from psychotic delusions and the delusions made her unable to know right from wrong at the time of the killings. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Kerrville State Hospital where she remained for 8 years. She was later released in May 2012 with one of the conditions being, she would not be unsupervised around any children. In this case it is obvious mental illness is a huge factor in the killings. And that her delusions are sadly what lead her to murder her children.

I often wonder when I hear about these cases what could have been done to prevent it . Even more so when the mother is obviously mentally ill. I wonder why the children where not protected more than they where. Or if the mother could have simply gotten the right kind of help she needed , would this have prevented her from killing her innocent children. I am a mother myself and I know killing your own child goes against our basic instant. I consider it a rare instance where a women would kill her baby and not have some type of mental problem even though it may not always be the case. Because I am a mother myself I find it hard to have a true understanding of why these woman do what they do.