At 2 o’clock in the afternoon back in April, 2006 Calgary paramedics and police found themselves in a basement suite in a southwest Calgary fourplex. The suite was decidedly in a poor state according to Detective Theresa Garagan. There were numerous cats and kittens running around (which to some people is good), some cat feces on the floor (which is not so good), and one naked little dead girl (indisputably bad).

She was a pretty little thing, was Summer Hope, with red hair, cherubic face and two front teeth, laying there on her Winnie the Pooh blanket. She looked too healthy to be dead, but dead she was. Strange. And stranger yet, the baby’s father, Jonathan Hope, told paramedics that he tried to revive the girl with CPR for five hours (yes, FIVE hours). He said he didn’t call 911 because his phone wasn’t working.

Let’s just think about it. Wouldn’t you, wouldn’t everybody run up the stairs and outside yelling for help, carrying Summer’s little 23 pound body? Even I, with my bad back and bad knee, using a cane, would have scrambled up those stairs and taken her to a neighbor’s, screaming for help the whole way.

But what did Jonathan Hope do? He told the paramedics that besides performing CPR he managed to devise a homemade makeshift defibrillator using the wires of a lamp. Did you get that? A defibrillator out of a lamp! I guess the big idea was to jumpstart his baby daughter’s little heart.

Now I don’t know about you, but when confronted by a medical emergency such as an unresponsive child, my instinct would always be to get professional help and never to disassemble home appliances to cobble together a defibrillator, even if I were a trained designer of defibrillators.

Jonathan Hope is not a trained designer of anything. He’s an addict. And his whole Dr. Frankenstein-ish attempts to restart his daughter with electricity were a panicky last ditch effort to conceal what had really happened to Summer.

See, Summer Hope did not die of natural causes. Her 16-month-old body stopped working because it was contaminated with methadone. For those who don’t know, a lethal dose of the drug causes the brain to shut down and breathing to stop. Methadone is so dangerous that ingesting even a small amount could put a child in a coma in 30 minutes.

So who would be stupid and irresponsible enough have methadone around children? Why, that would be f*tards Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin.

Bet you were wondering when we’d mention the mother.

Dr. Ian Postnikoff, who worked at a methadone treatment clinic, testified at trial that Jonathan the drug addict had once been allowed to take home daily doses of methadone BUT the privilege to take doses home was revoked in January 2006 because of Jonathan Hope’s criminal record.

Jonathan Hope was receiving about 260 milligrams of methadone, one of the highest doses of the drug that the clinic was dispensing, said Dr. Postnikoff.

Now if Jonathan Hope was not allowed to take doses home, HOW did it wind up in Summer’s system? It seems that the f*tard drank his dose of methadone mixed with orange juice at the downtown clinic, but spit some of it into a coffee cup, which he took home.

WHY the hell would he sneak methadone to his home? Who knows, but for me the testimony of the witness Amanda MacDonald makes sense. She was a friend of Lisa, and she testified that Lisa Guerin asked Jonathan Hope to sneak some home from his treatment clinic in a coffee cup so that she could see what it would do to her. Believable, right? If the methadone was meant for Jonathan, all he had to do was swallow it at the clinic.

Regardless, the methadone was in a cup in the home and obviously within reach of the toddler. Here the story gets all he said-she said.

Jonathan Hope testified Lisa Guerin was looking after Summer while he went to a gas station and when he got back the cup was on the floor. Supposedly Lisa then told him Summer hadn’t swallowed it, and she’d rinsed the baby’s mouth out anyway. He suggested taking Summer to the hospital but Lisa nixed that and then left home. All of this transpired at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. He didn’t notice anything wrong with his daughter until the morning after, which is the day he did his heroic CPR/defibrillating thing in the hours before the paramedics were summoned.

That’s his story.

Lisa Guerin merely denied knowing anything at all about it. She saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing about the methadone. Completely ignorant. She believed her daughter had pizza sauce on her face, but there was no stain on her shirt to indicate she’d had anything to drink. Choking back tears on the stand, Lisa said she thought Summer had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and didn’t find out about the methadone until much later.

That’s her story.

Her former friend and drinking buddy Amanda MacDonald testified that on that Saturday Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin were packing the car so Lisa and Amanda could drive to Rocky Mountain House to perform as exotic dancers. She was in the living room with the couple’s son when she saw Summer wander towards the master bedroom. She then returned, her chin damp and her shirt stained with reddish-orange liquid.

“Oh my God, Jonathan, she just drank your methadone!” Amanda told the court Lisa had exclaimed.

As Summer sat between them on the hide-a-bed in the living room, Lisa asked Amanda what would happen to her daughter. Good idea — asking the professional medical opinion of a non-professional, non-medical stripper.

“She just drank watered down heroin,” Amanda said she replied. “She’s going to get sick but I don’t think she’s going to die.”

She also said she told Lisa they should not go to Rocky Mountain House because Summer needed medical treatment, but Lisa Guerin was adamant. Besides the stripping gig, there was a lover waiting for her there. She had her priorities!

The couple then fought with each other for a bit but neither sought medical attention for the little girl. The women hopped in the car and drove off without looking back.

Remember how methadone would have rendered the sweet little toddler comatose within 30 minutes? It boggles the mind that in less than half an hour after ingesting methadone Summer Hope was out of sight and out of mind for that pair of f*tards. Lisa was long gone, and heaven only knows what Jonathan Hope was doing but it sure wasn’t bothering with Summer.

And the saddest thing of all, a drug called naloxone could have reversed the effect of her overdose if she’d gotten it in time. She needn’t have died at all! Her parents hadn’t intended to kill her — the overdose was accidental after all, but undoubtedly their callous disregard and stupendous stupidity following the overdose did kill her. And for that may they suffer in hell.

Jonathan Hope and his now former partner, Lisa Guerin, were brought to trial in March 2010.

Jonathan Hope really impressed the court when he showed up drunk on the opening day of his trial. Way to go, idiot!

Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Earl Wilson found them guilty of failing to provide the necessities of life in the death of their 16-month-old daughter. He acquitted them of two other, more serious, charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. The Crown failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, said Justice Wilson. Testimony from Amanda MacDonald, the prosecution’s star witness, was not entirely believable, he said.

Defense lawyers had argued Amanda was not credible because she admitted to using cocaine daily for many years.

In handing down the conviction, Justice Earl Wilson said that regardless of whether or not the couple knew for certain that their child had ingested methadone, a responsible parent would have sought medical assurances that she was OK.

“Common sense exercised by the prudent parent is to take no chance when there’s even a possibility that a child’s been poisoned,” said Justice Wilson. “No real willingness was shown by either parent to do that.”

“”[Hope] couldn’t even get off his hindquarters and go down the street. An abandonment of parental responsibility is perhaps the understatement of the year,” said Justice Wilson.

Failure to provide the necessities of life carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. So they got five years, right? Wrong! Jonathan Hope was sentenced to a whopping 2½ years in prison. He got credit for the months he spent in pre-sentence custody so that reduced his time remaining to two years. He gets out in March 2012.

Hope will serve his sentence in a federal penitentiary so he can have better access to addictions programs.

Lisa Guerin, now 30, read a written statement from the prisoner’s dock before sentencing:

“There is not a day goes by that I don’t think about Summer. Every day, I think about that day four years ago. Knowing what I know now I could have stopped this tragedy from ever happening. The pain never goes away and never gets easier to manage. It hurts and never stops hurting. Losing my baby caused wounds that will never heal. I wish I could trade places with her.”

As to Lisa Guerin, Justice Wilson said her “callous and cavalier attitude” to her daughter swallowing the opiate was “stunning, and that it was “unfathomable” that she then left. “But such is the narcissistic character in the nature of Lisa Guerin,” the judge said. While her moral culpability was high, he thought the sentencing range of three to four years sought by the Crown prosecutor was excessive.

Lisa Guerin was sentenced to 2½ years in prison, and with DOUBLE credit for her pre-trial detention (2 days credit for every day served), she had six months left to serve. So as of September, 2010, Lisa is free to carry on with her life.

And Summer is still dead. She’d had 16 months on this earth and was entitled to decades more. It’s a crying shame that she had such a hopeless father in Jonathan Hope, a pathetic addict who wouldn’t get his daughter real medical help to save her life. And it’s downright criminal she was dependent on a mother who purposely chose a stripping gig and a lover over her own baby’s welfare. Maybe as Lisa Guerin ages, wrinkles and sags, and the stripping gigs and lovers dwindle, she’ll finally realize that she’d thrown away the most precious thing of all.

Editor’s Notes: I always find it amusing when a judge reams out a convicted criminal from the bench prior to sentencing, knowing full well that the sentence he plans to impose doesn’t come close to providing justice for the victim and the victim’s loved ones. It’s especially ludicrous when, as in this case, the defendants escaped conviction on the more serious, and of course, most appropriate charges they faced.

Take our two friends here, Jonathan Hope And Lisa Guerin. Now I don’t blame them so much for allowing little Summer to get into the cup of Methadone. Anyone who’s had children go through the toddler stage knows that Murphy’s Law was thought up by just such a parent. Whatever can go wrong WILL go wrong, and whatever you leave in a place that’s accessible to a toddler will be found and (eaten, drank, played with) by that toddler.

In this case, it would have been called accidental ingestion.

But when they chose not to get immediate medical treatment for Summer Hope, They should have known they were putting their daughter in grave danger. It doesn’t matter how stupid or how high they were, what matters is what a reasonable person would do in this situation.

There may be lawyers out there who can correct me is I get the details incorrect, but technically speaking Jonathan Hope And Lisa Guerin committed manslaughter by just not caring. Lisa didn’t want to miss out on a chance to get laid by her new boyfriend, and Jonathan just didn’t want to be bothered. The term for that is “depraved indifference”, and there are lots of people in prison because of it.

But somehow Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Earl Wilson, applying the law in a way I can’t wrap my mind around, ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Jonathan Hope And Lisa Guerin knew how dangerous methadone was.

Lemme tell you something about my experience with methadone. Back before I got clean, one of the ways I controlled my chronic migraine headaches was with hardcore prescription narcotics from a pain management clinic. One month the doctor decided to try methadone on me. I took a 40 mg dose, which is not a lot for someone who had as high a tolerance as I did. I then went to lay down.

When I awoke two hours later, I was soaked from my knees to my neck in urine – that’s right, I had pissed myself, something I hadn’t done since I was a 4-year-old. I cleaned up myself and the bed, and after 8 hours had passed, I took my next dose of methadone. This time I didn’t go to bed, but that didn’t stop me from falling asleep while watching TV. Again, when I awoke, I was drenched in my own piss.

After this episode, it never happened again, but no drug I’d ever taken before or since – even LSD and PCP – had ever caused me to lose control of my bodily functions like that. THAT’S how powerful methadone is. And if Jonathan hope was experienced user of it, he knew how dangerous it was for a little baby to take it.

Look, if I walked into a room, and I found my 16-month-old daughter sitting in front of an open bottle of fucking baby aspirin, that would have been enough for me to take that child to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY. It’s just common sense to assume the worse in cases like that, especially since the baby can’t tell you how it’s feeling. You absolutely MUST err on the side of caution.

Whatever happened to common sense? Why aren’t people like Jonathan Hope And Lisa Guerin at least held to a minimum standard of behavior? Why was Justice Wilson more interested in making excuses for these two imbeciles than holding them accountable for the death of their child, 16-month-old Summer Hope?

I think I have a good grasp of what is right and what is wrong, but cases like this one shake that foundation every time I hear about one. I believe people who cause the death of their own child simply because they just didn’t care enough should have to suffer for a long time, but since Justice Earl Wilson believes otherwise, Jonathan Hope And Lisa Guerin will get back to their shitty lives in less than two years.

Summer Hope will still be dead in two years, likely forgotten by her “parents”. But I won’t forget her. I’ll carry a little bit of pain for her, in the place where I keep the memory of all the dead and murdered children I’ve read and heard about. And life will go on…

No, I hate this movie because of the plot. In case you haven’t been forced to sit through this dribble, (spoiler alert) the movie centers around the choice forced upon Sophie by the big bad Nazis; she must choose between her children – which one will live and which one will die.

Now my friends and I have had many philosophical discussions on this topic and they have all come up with reasonable arguments. For me, there would be no choice. IF some big bad old Nazi forced me to choose between my children and there was absolutely no way for me to rip his throat out with my teeth, my choice would be we all die.

I cannot and will not choose between my children, contrary to what my problem child might think. Yes I will admit that there is one child that I do tend to favor (threat of death and horrific torture will never get me to divulge which one it is), but I would never place that child’s life above any of their siblings. As far as I am concerned, we are all in this together.

Jewell Marie Hendricks, 25, of Ogden, Utah announced on her MySpace page in November 2009, that she was awaiting the birth of her twins, Robert and Daniel. Anyone who has ever had twins knows that they mean twice the work.

In my own experience, having three children in diapers at one time was not fun and I barely survived the experience. My gruesome twosome have never been in sync. Even as babies, they had different sleep and eating cycles. In one way, I was lucky as they cried separately. Just as soon as you got one of them quiet, the other would start. It was a never ending cycle.

Jewell Hendricks didn’t have the childcare experience that I had. By the time Kyle and Kalin were born, I had already gone through infancy with three children so I was able to handle the double duty. But Jewell never seemed to get into the swing of things.

On Sunday, January 25, 2010, while her husband slept, Jewell Hendricks took a long hard look at her baby boys and decided that one of them just had to go. The decision for her wasn’t a difficult one because she had always loved Daniel more than Robert.

Jewell Hendricks told authorities that at first she placed Robert on her shoulder and began squeezing him. She squeezed him with enough force to break his collar bone, but not kill him. Undaunted, Jewell then wrapped baby Robert in a sleeping bag and wedged him behind her, against the back of the couch. She then fell asleep, on top of him, for a couple of hours.

When she woke up around 6am, Robert was dead. She told Detective Brian Eynon:

“If she only had one child, it would make her life better. And she loved Daniel more than she loved Robert.”

It was then that Jewell Hendricks woke up her husband, Phillip Hendricks, to tell him that Robert wasn’t breathing. Phillip immediately called 911 and then began to performed CPR.

Unfortunately it was too late. Robert would later be pronounced dead at the scene.

But something wasn’t right about Jewell’s story and the police were notified. It seemed that both Robert and Daniel both had several unexplainable bruises covering their bodies. When questioned, Jewell told authorities that it was because Robert was a clumsy child and kept falling down.

Now I’ve had quite a few of my kids start crawling and walking earlier than expected, but I somehow doubt that a 2-month old infant would be capable of crawling or walking anywhere, much less falling down accidentally, all by themselves.

At Jewell Hendricks’ preliminary hearing, Assistant Medical Examiner Pamela Ulmer testified that Robert died from blunt force injury to the head combined with smothering. Ulmer said the short falls described by Jewell were inconsistent with the level of brain injury and bleeding within the skull she observed during an autopsy. She testified that Robert also suffered a skull fracture, bruising on the head and both arms, a broken collarbone and bleeding of the eye.

But in a surprising move, Jewell Hendricks’ public defender, Ryan Bushell, made a closing argument at the end of the preliminary hearing. Bushell asked the judge to reduce the charges to child abuse or neglect, as the only evidence of the child being smothered was Jewel’s own testimony. He also noted that according to the deputy medical examiner’s testimony no evidence of the child being smothered was found at autopsy. Bushell said:

“Your honor, what we have here is a distraught mother who just lost a child and thought it was her fault as she was trying to quiet the child. What she didn’t know was that Robert’s head was already busted up.”

Basically, Bushell began laying the foundation for the old, “Jewell Hendricks is too stupid to have known that what she was doing was wrong,” even though Jewell used the word, “intent” numerous times during her confession with police.

The basis for this line of thought? Both Jewell Hendricks and her husband Phillip Hendricks had been in special education classes in high school. Seriously, that was the master plan.

Give me a fucking break.

When quieting a screaming infant, you don’t break their collar bone or their head in the process unless you want to kill them. Jewell Hendricks knew exactly that what she was doing was wrong. She wanted Robert gone so that HER life would be easier. Selfish bitch.

Second District Court Judge Michael DiReda didn’t quite buy the load of crap that Bushell was trying to sell and ordered Jewell Marie Hendricks to stand trial for first-degree felony murder. She is due back in court July 29 for a scheduling hearing.

Phillip Hendricks has been cleared of any wrong doing associated with the injuries suffered by both boys, and Daniel has been placed in protective custody.

After the hearing, Detective Eynon said:

“It’s really a sad situation. I’ve handled multiple cases in the past that have been violent, and even more violent than this, but in this particular circumstance you have a 2-month-old baby who is innocent and is really murdered for no apparent reason other than selfish reasons of a mom wanting a better life or more quiet around the house.”

Having children changes your life. When they are young, you are constantly exhausted, mentally taxed and emotionally drained. There are times you make decisions that later you ask yourself, “what the hell was I thinking?” But deciding that one of your children is expendable because you don’t love him/her as much as you love the other is just a cold hearted, selfish and evil act.

I hope that Jewell Hendricks is found guilty of her crime and that for Daniel’s sake, she never sees the light of freedom ever again. I mean if she thought it was overwhelming he was 2-months old, what the hell is she going to do when he is a toddler? And he can talk back. Daniel has exhibited signs of abuse already. It would only be a matter of time before Jewell decided that he “needed to be in a better place” just like his brother, Robert.

We enjoyed nothing more than going to our favorite bar ‘n grill for some really fine tasting grub, great music, good booze and dancing. I’ve always been a shot of tequila and a beer babe myself, while hubby enjoys his whiskey. Give him enough whiskey and he will put the shrimp heads on his fingers and make them start dancing.

We took frequent vacations and enjoyed the company of our friends and family. We went to parties and threw parties. We knew that having a baby might slow our “fun times” down, so we waited we got all of that partying out of our system. Our first child was planned and we hit a home run on the first try. After that…well I’ve always said that hubby could just toss his pants on the bed and I’d get pregnant.

Lloyd and Stephanie Rochester (Her MySpace) of Superior, Colorado were married on August 18, 2007. According to their bio information on their wedding website, theirs was an idyllic courtship. Both loved the outdoors, sports, working out and if their words are believable, each other.

Websites like these were not around when I got engaged back in the Jurassic period. But I’m pretty sure this is a “bride” thing. So I am assuming that Stephanie Rochester wrote the whole kit and caboodle. She wrote:

“We have continued to be a “perfect team” and are both absolutely amazed at how lucky we are to have such a beautiful and special gift. We believe we are a perfect match for each other, and with each other we are much greater than the sum of the parts. In every way we strengthen each others lives and our love is so strong we make the perfect union.”

Gag.

I guess I may have been like that when I was young and in lust, whoops, love.

They had a dramatic proposal on top of a dormant volcano (foreshadowed irony?) and a large wedding. They bought a house and settled into domestic life. When they first met, Stephanie Rochester, 34, was working at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Later she took a position as a mental health counselor (not kidding) working with autistic children at Children’s Hospital. Lloyd, 29, worked for Lockeed Martin.

Like a lot of young couples, they decided to start their family pretty quickly, and baby Rylan Richard Rochester was born on November 4, 2009. Everyone said that Stephanie was a devoted and loving mother and the entire family seemed perfect. But then if things were so perfect, I wouldn’t be writing about them, huh?

Even during her pregnancy, Stephanie Rochester seemed obsessed with autism. She worried constantly that her baby would be born with developmental disabilities. I must say that with the first three of my pregnancies, developmental disabilities didn’t even make a blip on my radar. I was more concerned about my babies being healthy.

But not Stephanie Rochester, it was all autism, all the time. After Rylan was born, her obsession strengthened, demanding that his vaccinations be spread out over time instead of the “cocktail” that they give, just in case every single professional WAS wrong about vaccines not causing autism.

Rylan hit all of his developmental benchmarks and his pediatrician, extended family and friends all told Stephanie to stop obsessing. Rylan was fine. But every single time she looked at Rylan, she believed she saw an early symptom of the condition. And Stephanie Rochester just couldn’t live with an autistic child.

Autism is typically diagnosed between two and three years of age. I know from my own experiences, my son started exhibiting the symptoms of autism at around fifteen months. It got to the point that I knew something was terribly wrong, but his pediatrician kept telling me that he was just being a “boy” and relax.

But when my son put his head through a window, breaking the glass, I told his pediatrician that this wasn’t being a “boy” this was something else. When he tried to argue with me, I threw him into the wall and screamed at him, “THIS ISN’T NORMAL! FUCKING DO SOMETHING!”

A few months later, we received the news of the diagnosis. And it was devastating. It does change everything about you, your life and your family. But it isn’t the end of the world. It’s the old when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade thing. Just a weird, wildly flavored, and at times hard to swallow, lemonade.

But Stephanie Rochester was OBSESSED. She would tell anyone who would listen that autism ruined families. She started complaining to some people about possibly suffering from postpartum depression. She said she complained to her midwife who prescribed her 50 mg of the antidepressant Zoloft.

Wow, midwives must be really powerful in Colorado to be able to prescribe Zoloft. Can’t happen where I live.

But yet, to others, she seemed upbeat, positive and very much in love with her infant son. Quite the contrast. I had the baby blues after all of my kids. You cry at the drop of a hat. You are exhausted physically and mentally. For me it only lasted a couple of months.

I don’t think I ever had postpartum depression, so I can’t really equate it to my experiences. But I have had friends who had it, and it wasn’t pretty. They couldn’t hide it. They couldn’t pretend that everything was rosy. If you got them to talk (and that’s a big IF), it was about how shitty and how hopeless they felt. You knew they were hurting.

Lloyd has said that he only knew that she was having depression issues because Stephanie told him she was. But outside of her midwife, Stephanie Rochester never asked for help from a mental health professional. The mental health counselor didn’t seek help for a mental health condition that she said she had. Hmmmm.

While Lloyd was out of the country on business, Stephanie Rochester says she sank deeper into her depression. She told investigators that she spent hours online researching autism, reading blogs and looking for the early warning signs. She believed that Rylan had autism. She complained to Lloyd and her mother-in-law that Rylan was not making eye contact or tracking with his eyes and he was arching his back. Granted these are all signs of autism, but they appear in children much older than 6-months.

Stephanie Rochester told her mother-in-law that she was thinking of killing herself. So instead seeking immediate mental health care, mom-in-law just said, “come on over.” Stephanie and Rylan stayed with Grandma until Lloyd returned home. Way to go there, slap that band-aid on the bullet hole.

Lloyd says that on Monday, May 31, 2010, they spent the day at the pool. He told investigators that as far as he could see, Rylan was fine. He said that Rylan was jumping and holding his weight and appeared to be having a really good time. On the drive home, Stephanie Rochester again complained that she believed that Rylan was not just autistic, but SEVERELY autistic. She just knew that something was horribly wrong with their son. He wasn’t eating well or tracking with his eyes.

Lloyd finally took her and Rylan to the Urgent Care Center at Children’s Hospital. Rylan was checked by the triage nurse and everything appeared normal. As there were more severe cases ahead of them, Lloyd and Stephanie had to wait. While they were waiting, Lloyd complained to Stephanie that “he didn’t know that having a kid would be like this.”

After waiting a couple of hours, they got fed up and left (if you REALLY believe that something is seriously wrong with your child, you don’t just leave an emergency room because you had to wait). Lloyd said they planned to take Rylan to see his pediatrician the next morning.

When they returned home, Stephanie Rochester put Rylan to bed. As she stood there watching her son sleep, she thought that “I have to do something.” She just couldn’t raise a child with autism. She couldn’t. So she grabbed a plastic shopping bag (she thought it was from Target) and placed it over Rylan’s head.

Stephanie Rochester said that she had researched “suicide techniques” on the internet and believed that carbon monoxide poisoning was not painful. She didn’t want Rylan to suffer. She thought Rylan would just go to sleep and not wake up. She must have thought this would happen very quickly because after a minute she removed the bag and found that Rylan was still breathing. She tossed the bag in the garbage and left the nursery.

She and Lloyd had a nice dinner together where they enjoyed a glass of wine. They talked about the vacation they were taking the next day to Cape Cod. They talked about selling their home. They talked about bringing some fun back into their lives. Stephanie Rochester said that she knew they could not have any fun if they had a severely autistic child.

After dinner, Stephanie went to check on Rylan while Lloyd puttered around online. She says that she stood there and stared at her son and then grabbed two of his folded blankets from the laundry and placed them on top of his face so that he would stop breathing. She left the nursery and began to pack for their trip.

Stephanie Rochester said that after an hour or so, she got a little nervous and went to check on Rylan. I guess she wanted to see if the little weight around her neck was dead yet. She said that when she removed the blankets from his face that although he was still breathing, his eyes were open and he wasn’t responsive. Then Lloyd walked in to check on his son. He told investigators that he saw that Rylan’s eyes were open, but that he thought he was just really tired and sleeping. Hey asshole, babies don’t sleep with their eyes open. Lloyd believed that all was right with his world and he went to get ready for bed.

I imagine that Stephanie Rochester’s heart was about to jump out of her chest. I mean here she is trying to kill her kid and Daddy walks into the room. Must have been a huge relief when Lloyd shrugged it off and went to bed. Stephanie once again, left the nursery and went to bed.

Stephanie Rochester told investigators that around 2:30 in the morning of June 1, she went back into the nursery because she heard Rylan whimpering. There is her baby, lying in his crib, probably with irreversible brain damage due to lack of oxygen, looking up at his mother – the person that is supposed to protect him and keep him safe. You have to wonder if she said anything to him.

I doubt it.

By this time, I believe that Stephanie Rochester had ceased thinking of Rylan as a baby, her baby. Rylan was no longer human, he was a thing. Instead she thought of him as a party pooper and obstacle in the way of her having a good time.

Stephanie went into the guest bedroom and retrieved two folded adult size blankets. She returned to Rylan and placed both of the blankets on top of his face. I’m sure she thought, “that ought to do it.” And then went back to bed.

When Lloyd asked her if Rylan was OK, she told him “if it’s okay, let’s just let him cry it out.” Even though he thought that was an odd comment, he quickly went back to sleep.

Stephanie Rochester told investigators that she woke up around 6:00 a.m. and thought about killing herself by sitting in the garage with the car running. Instead, she went into Rylan’s room and removed the blankets from his face. She stated that as she stared at his lifeless little body, she lost it. Frantically, she threw the blankets into the guest bedroom closet so Lloyd wouldn’t see them. She then called to Lloyd to tell him that there was a problem with Rylan.

Lloyd stated that once he saw his son, who was not breathing but still warm, he threw on his clothes, grabbed Rylan and ran to the car. He told investigators that he knew that he could get Rylan to the hospital faster than waiting for an ambulance. That is, if he didn’t have to wait for Stephanie Rochester. He waited in the car, trying not to panic, honking the horn, waiting for what he thought was Rylan’s concerned, over protective mother.

He said that when Stephanie finally came out of the house, she calmly walked to the car. He handed Rylan to Stephanie and raced for Avista Medical Center. He said that the only thing that Stephanie Rochester seemed concerned about was that she thought he was driving too fast. Too fast? When your child, your baby is in a medical crisis, there is no such thing as driving too fast.

When they arrived at the emergency room, the doctors tried to revive Rylan, but it was too late and he was pronounced dead. But something about the entire situation didn’t sit well with the emergency room staff and they notified the Boulder County Sherrif’s Office about what they felt was a suspicious death.

By 8:40 a.m. Detectives Ali Thompson, Chris Fiegel and Mark Spurgeon of the Sherrif’s Department and Coroners Investigator, Deron Dempsey were at the hospital. They talked with the staff and then Investigator Dempsey spoke with Stephanie and Lloyd. Investigator Dempsey reported that Stephanie explained to him the severe health issues that Rylan was profoundly affected by autism, but it had not yet been diagnosed.

When Detectives Thompson, Fiegel and Spurgeon went to speak with Stephanie and Lloyed, Stephanie requested that she speak with Detective Thompson alone. They went into an empty exam room and Stephanie Rochester told her that she believed that she was suffering from postpartum depression. Then she admitted to killing Rylan.

She told Detective Thompson that she had initially used Rylan’s favorite monkey and bunny blankets to smother him before bringing in the adult sized blankets. At that time, Stephanie Rochester was placed under arrest. When detectives informed Lloyd that Stephanie had confessed to killing his son, he expressed surprise, but not shock. At that time, Lloyd was released and allowed to leave. It appeared that the only thing that Lloyd was guilty of was being an idiot.

View Stephanie Rochester’s Arrest Warrant

Once Stephanie arrived at the Sherrif’s Department, she requested something to eat and drink as she was hungry. She waived her Miranda writes and explained everything to the Investigators. Stephanie Rochester told Detective Thompson that for several weeks she had been feeling anxious and depressed and had thought about killing herself but didn’t want to burden Lloyd with the care of a severely autistic child.

Stephanie Rochester told Detective Thompson:

“that when you have a child with autism, your life is ruined financially and emotionally and that she felt like she couldn’t take care of Rylan.”

She went onto explain that with her vast experience in dealing with autistic children, SHE knew how to spot the symptoms early.

Yeah, an undergraduate degree in Psychology and two years of working in a Children’s Hospital makes her so much more qualified than the child’s pedatrician. Stephanie Rochester told Detective Thompson that even though she had been taking 50 mg of Zoloft since May 25, 2010, it didn’t seem to be working. Wow. Gave that shit a whole 5-6 days to take effect. Damn convienent, don’t you think?

Zoloft is traditionally prescribed to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Any prescriber is going to inform the patient that it usually takes up to 14 days for the patient to begin to feel the effects as the levels build in the system. They should also refer them to a mental health provider for evaluation and follow-up. So waiting a few days is unrealistic. You would think that a mental health counselor would know this.

Stephanie Rochester was charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. She is being held without bond and is on suicide watch. Lloyd, who retained a criminal attorney for himself, filed for divorce on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 stating that the “marriage was irretrievably broken.” Well, Duh. Gee I don’t know, the whacko bitch only killed his son. Very, very, slowly over 12 fucking hours. Yup, don’t think even Dr. Phil (hate that guy, by the way) can fix this one.

Attorney George Robertie is representing Lloyd in his divorce. In the section of the divorce petition that asks for information regarding children, it stated N/A. In the section that asks whether there are court proceedings that could affect the divorce, it says “homicide.” Nothing like killing a child to end a “perfect union.”

In the aftermath of Stephanie Rochester’s arrest, many people who knew her have come forward to express complete disbelief. A neighbor, Kimberly Rouland said:

“She didn’t express to me anything but being tired. But I feel she’s someone who wouldn’t want to burden me with that.”

Others expressed complete shock and bewilderment. Rouland believes that if Stephanie is guilty of killing Rylan, then there must be some type of mental illness involved:

“I know her, and this isn’t something she would do. She is lovely and sweet and consistent. Whatever happened, we can’t get our heads around it.”

Most shared her sentiments. I, for one, am not really buying the whole postpartum depression defense. If that is the case, then Stephanie Rochester was suffering from postpartum depression before she even gave birth when she began obsessing about autism.

Women suffering from postpartum psychosis have completely snapped with reality. They are unable to think ahead and live only in the moment. When they kill their children, it doesn’t take them 12 hours and 3 tries to do it. They do not try to hide the evidence of their crimes from their husbands. They literally cannot think that far ahead.

Mothers killing their children due to postpartum psychosis is an extremely rare phenomenon with only about 4% of women becoming psychotic enough to murder their babies. Women suffering from postpartum depression/psychois or who have very real thoughts of suicide do not pack for vacations. They don’t talk about selling their homes or putting some fun back into their lives. They can see no future for themselves or their children so what is the point of packing for a trip to Cape Cod?

I think that Stephanie Rochester found out that being a parent really is the world’s toughest job. It is a 24/7, 365 day a year commitment.

I believe that Stephanie was probably a little nuts before she got pregnant. Nuts and extremely selfish. She believed that having a child with autism was the same as wearing a giant mill stone around your neck and trying to swim. Stephanie Rochester just didn’t want the responsibility of a child and used autism as an excuse.

Yes, having a child with autism does change your life. It turns it upside down, inside out and spins it around. But it isn’t the end of the world. My son is moderately affected by autism. I know how difficult it can be. I wouldn’t wish an autistic toddler on Osama bin Laden. If I had dropped my son in Osama’s lap when my son was 3-years old, bin Laden would have dragged his dialysis machine out of the cave that he is hiding in and turned himself in screaming uncle.

A very dear friend of mine has a son that is profoundly affected by autism. He didn’t give up. Like us, he and his family adapted. Why? Because we love our kids and just because they are different and difficult at times doesn’t change the fact that we would move heaven and earth for them. Saying that you killed your baby because you “thought” they had autism is an affront to the millions of families out there that deal with the disorder with love, compassion, determination and a fierce spirit on a daily basis.

Stephanie Rochester told investigators that she didn’t want Rylan to suffer. Yet, suffer is what this helpless little infant did. Imagine his terror as he tried to breath and couldn’t. He didn’t have the strength to push the blankets off of his face as he struggled and suffocated. A slow and tortuous death. Lying there helpless, screaming for his mommy, desperately trying to draw breath after agonized breath – for 12 hours. Until the lack of oxygen to his brain rendered him silent and finally dead.

To me, Stephanie Rochester represents a special kind of evil. For any baby, their mother is their entire world. They are helpless and completely dependent on them for their survival. Rylan did not know that his mother resented him. That she believed him to be defective and thus not worth living. She worked with autistic children, so she knew better than anyone else that you cannot accurately diagnose the level of autism that an individual will suffer when they are a toddler.

I was given the “pick your institution now” speech when my son was not quite 2-years old. But now at 10-years old, he is mainstreamed in a regular ed classroom and making the honor roll. Yes, he has problems. Yes, he will have problems the rest of his life. Yes, it is a financial burden. But he is a joy and the heart of our family. He is a gifted musician and a talented artist.

Stephanie told people that she believed Rylan to be better off dead than living with autism. And if she truly believed that her son was better off dead than autistic, then she knew absolutely nothing about it. Many people with autism have contributed miraculous things to the human race. People like Temple Grandin, Hikari Oe, Stephen Wiltshire, Beethoven, Mozart and Albert Einstein. All of these people fell somewhere on the spectrum. And they were not mill stones. The world is a much better place because of them.

Stephanie Rochester robbed herself, her husband, her family, friends and possibly the world of her son Rylan. She will never know if he would have become an Einstein or a Mozart. Stephanie was just too fucking lazy to make that lemonade. Rest in peace baby Rylan.

Well, Raymond Jackson, from Crescent Springs, Kentucky encouraged his two year old stepdaughter McKenzie to drink his specially brewed sweet tea, complete with a dash of gin. After a few glasses of this magic juice, the toddler passed out and became unresponsive.

When Jackson’s wife arrived home from work roughly around midnight, she did what any loving mother does and checked on her little girl. Immediately, she noticed that there was something horribly, horribly wrong. When Amanda Jackson kissed her daughter’s cheek, she noticed her eyes were rolling back in her head, and her breathing was labored. Amanda rushed her daughter to the hospital with Ray in tow.

“Friday night I got off work, went in there, checked on her, nothing. Rubbed her cheek, rubbed her face, tried shaking her arms, nothing. Her eyes were rolled in the back of her head, and her breathing was real shallow. Yeah, it terrified me. I told the hospital workers that. They said they were going to get a blood alcohol level on her. It was 0.259,”

“She was pretty much almost in a coma. She was not responsive at all.”

A blood alcohol level of 0.259 percent is THREE TIMES the legal limit in Kentucky. For an adult.

Now we come to the kicker. Good old Ray Ray told police that little McKenzie Jackson was sneaking sips of his gin and sweet tea, so he figured she should have some of her own. According to him he poured some into her sippy cup so she’d keep her dirty little hands off of his.

However, once the blood work was returned, investigators said the amount consumed was not consistent with the Jackson’s claims. In other words, it’s highly doubtful that a toddler sneaking a couple of sips from a “big people’s cup” could have consumed enough booze to get THAT drunk.

So Raymond Jackson, that counts as physical injury that could result in death. Even if McKenzie survives, Mr. Manly Man, it will most likely result in permanent brain damage.

Raymond Jackson has been charged with criminal abuse and bail was set at $10,000. Amanda was granted emergency custody of McKenzie Jackson, whose condition has not been released, and a restraining order was sworn out against Ray.

Spring is usually the time when young men and young women turn their thoughts to new adventures, new acquaintances, and new loves.

And when a couple falls in love, the whole world can seem brand new.

Together, two hearts beating as one. United, the woosome twosome feel that there are no obstacles in life that they cannot overcome, no problems they cannot solve, no enemies they cannot defeat.

This bliss frequently leads to the urge to make something together – and so, many young couples in love find themselves ‘with child’, the ultimate act of creation.

It is a truly human urge that drives the majority of mankind to procreate. What a marvelous way to express your love for one another! And the baby will be a reflection of each of you.

But sometimes the act of creating can be a little harder on the partner that has to hold on to the package for nine long months. Sometimes, the entire process can be a little, shall we say, daunting?

I mean, women have the equipment, the hormones, and the structure to manufacture this little human bundle of combined DNA, but sometimes the individual female tasked for duty may not have the requisite mental stamina to withstand the onslaught her system will take: emotionally, physiologically, psychologically.

Sometimes, things don’t always work out like they should, you know what I mean?

Four years ago, two young people met and married. Amir Golabbakhsh and Narjes Modarresi had quite a bit in common: religious beliefs, cultural mores and family values. Oh, and did I mention that they were both from Iran?

Yeah, well, the dynamic duo set up house-keeping in Houston, Texas, where the 28-year-old Amir secured a position as a teacher. Settling down to domestic bliss, Narjes gave birth to a bouncing baby boy three years ago.

But the event was a little harder for Narjes than was expected. She didn’t go home immediately with her little boy. No, she stayed at Ben Gaub General Hospital for over five weeks. What for? Apparently a severe case of postpartum depression. She just wasn’t her usual self. Family say that she was having trouble, and they knew she was depressed but she was getting help for it.

Postpartum depression can hit a new mother like a ton of bricks, and, according to the Centre for Disease Control, 12% of all new mothers suffer from depression, with 6% suffering from severe postpartum depression. And there are two forms of postpartum depression: the postpartum “baby blues,” a mood disorder that 50% to 80% of all new moms experience, usually dissipating in twelve days, and the postpartum major depression, which can spiral out of control if not treated.

You see, when a women gets pregnant, her hormones go on a roller-coaster ride. This is why an expectant father can find himself dealing with a sobbing pregnant mother-to-be, crying her heart out because the family cat gave her a stern look.

When the baby is born, all of those weird hormone levels do not gently ease back to their pre-baby levels; they just sort of dive bomb to zero. It is akin to flooding a car’s engine and trying to get it started again; sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing but wait, take things slowly, don’t rush things or you’ll just make things worse. You know what I mean.

You can do that with a car; not so for a new mother, especially in some cultures. The new mother is expected to be up and doing things: chores, meals, laundry, tending to the little man’s every need – and then there’s the baby. After all, a new life is here and she’s the person looked to for taking care of this new life.

Western society has a problem with accommodating new mothers as well as Middle Eastern cultures; women are expected to be a jack-of-all-trades and on duty 24/7. All things said, many mothers cope quite well with all of the extra stress and responsibility.

But sometimes they don’t.

So Narjes went home to her husband with her new role and responsibilities to tend to. The doctors had diagnosed her as suffering from severe postpartum depression, except there was more to it than that. Not that the message was clearly translated to the husband or the in-laws; and it wasn’t a problem with language either. We often hear what we want to hear and tune out the bad stuff, especially if it looks as though it could be messy.

Nope, what we have here is a clear failure to communicate.

Friends and relatives said that after the first child was born, Narjes seemed to be a bit spacey. There wasn’t anything specific they could identify, but she didn’t seem “herself”. Okay, she had that ‘baby depression’ or the baby blues, right? So she had medication for that and it’ll cure itself and go away, right?

We’re all guilty of thinking that a pill will magically take care of things, particularly if there are things about the diagnosis that makes people uncomfortable.

You see, Narjes had also been diagnosed as also suffering from bipolar disorder. She was put on the medication Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic mood stabilizer. Zyprexa is used specifically to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It just so happens that having bipolar disorder predisposes the mother for developing postpartum depression, and it is considered a SIGNIFICANT risk factor for developing postpartum psychosis.

Postpartum psychosis? Yeah, that’s not quite the same as postpartum depression as the literature indicates it is an even more rare condition occurring in 0.01 percent (yes, that 0.01%) of all new mothers. With postpartum psychosis, the mother can have psychotic episodes, hallucinations (auditory and visual), delusions, and generally lose touch with what you and I like to call REALITY.

Remember Andrea Yates? Well, she eventually was found not guilty of systematically drowning all five of her children due to her mental state and the very psychosis created by her multiple pregnancies.

Back to Narjes. She wasn’t just a new mother. She was a new mother with a disorder that predisposes the individual for severe postpartum depression and/or postpartum psychosis.

Ah, well. Narjes was having trouble with her new role. Remember she came from (and still lived in) a cultural setting that had a clearly defined role for women and taking a pill for her “condition” carried its own set of prejudices and misunderstandings. Iranians are very close knit, very private, almost secretive and are adverse to reaching out for help especially with such taboo issues as mental health.

People in general, regardless of culture, have pre-conceived stereotypical ideas regarding mental illness and the kind of person that suffers from “those” kind of illnesses. There isn’t a whole lot of support and understanding for the patient, especially when there aren’t any overt visual clues to the illness.

Some cultures eschew the use of medication, as if somehow taking a pill lessens your worth as a person or as a mother. It is silly,

It isn’t clear whether Narjes took her medication regularly; let’s just say that it was a conducive atmosphere for her to ‘forget’ her meds, or even to wean herself off them. Anyway, she was struggling so much that the couple went from living on their own to moving in with Amir’s family to help Narjes cope.

Can you imagine how cozy the whole thing must have been? Narjes would have been queen of her own home, but now she is relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy in the household. The in-laws were doing their best to help out, but you can imagine that the loss of status must have been another issue for Narjes to cope with.

According to some, Iranians are very private and opposed to reaching out for any kind of help. Such an action would be alien and unknown.

Narjes had been in America for four years, but she had not learned very much of the native tongue. Her isolation was pretty much complete. The language barrier makes everyday little tasks seem insurmountable. Her circle of friends and family would be primarily defined by her husband and her in-laws. Despite having the assistance of Amir’s family, Narjes continued to struggle with her mental illness.

While it is up for debate as to whether the medication worked for Narjes or even if she was taking it properly, it is clear that no one in the family had been given a chat as to why, given Narjes’s psychological makeup, it would have been a good idea to stop with the single child she already had. If more children were wanted, then perhaps adoption would be a more kinder route to take to expand the family.

How do I know that no one understood this? Well, a couple of months ago, Narjes gave birth to another healthy baby boy.

His name: Masih Modarresi.

Amir and Narjes were doubly blessed. The little guy was just learning the affect his smile was having on his loved ones when his mother decided to take him out for some fresh spring air.

And so it was that on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 21, 2010, that Narjes was pushing her two-month-old bundle of joy in his stroller along the 8000 block of Woodway Drive, located near Briar Bend Park. At around 5:30 p.m., she said, a beige-coloured sedan pulled up next to her. A black man with tattoos on his upper left arm exited the vehicle, snatched her baby from the stroller, jumped back in the car and drove away at a high rate of speed. During this entire episode, the man never said a word to Narjes nor did she attempt to stop him from his sole task of stealing her child.

The police who responded to her call issued an Amber Alert and the whole area began to search for little Masih. The cops, however, found her story a little hard to follow, and it wasn’t the lack of English skills.

Her initial story above began to evolve. It was a beige sedan. No, it was a beige van. No. It was a two-door brown or beige Chevrolet.

It was a single black male with a tattoo on his upper left arm. No, it was two men, the abductor being the passenger of the vehicle. No. It was a group of men.
First, he said nothing but grabbed the baby. No, he shoved her to the ground and then snatched the baby and the diaper bag. And so on.

But maybe it was the mud stains on her otherwise immaculate Muslim garb that got them thinking. The area she said she had been did not have any mud. The police decided that they wanted to go over the whole thing downtown and so they took a little car ride. Meanwhile, the area was buzzing with activity. Neighbours and friends came to the area to offer support and relatives made televised pleas for the baby’s safe return.

The people in the neighbourhood were frightened at the thought of some kidnapping fiend on the loose. Some even wondered why someone would steal a baby and not take the woman’s purse at the same time. Why just the baby? And why did the kidnapper make sure he took the diaper bag?

After the story had gone through several editions, Narjes finally broke down and confessed to the cops that she had murdered her baby.

At about 4:30 a.m., Thursday morning, Narjes led the detectives to the little boy. She had buried little Masih in a muddy grave near a stream in the area of Buffalo Bayou.

According to the results of the autopsy, the baby had been placed face-down, alive, in the watery grave, and buried by his mother. Mud and water filled his lungs, stomach and airway. Official cause of death: asphyxiation.

Let me reiterate that: HIS MOTHER BURIED HIM ALIVE.

Okay, now while it appeared that there was something wrong with her original story, it has been clear since the get-go that this mother will not serve any time. Why would I think that? Guess who her lawyer is?

Why, it’s none other than George Parnham. If the name is family, then it’s probably because he is the lawyer who got Andrea Yates off the charges brought against her in the death of her five children. In the first trial, Andrea was found guilty; in the second trial, Parnham was successful in making it a case about the legal definition of sanity in the state of Texas. The five dead victims? The dead don’t vote and they don’t pay taxes. No justice there.

Originally, Parnham had no details about this case, and merely stated that Narjes was being evaluated by specialists, but it was very obvious what his strategy was to be. He said, at his first press announcement, that there was no doubt in his mind that his client was suffering from postpartum depression.

Aww heck! Why are we even bothering to have a trial?

Oh, and Russell Yates called to give his support to Amir and the family. He said that he hopes the community will wait before making any judgments against the mother. He needn’t worry. Spokespersons for the Iranian community, in the press and on the internet, have already expressed sympathy for the mother and the family.

So, as the days pass, more and more is coming out about this mother and her mental illness. The relatives originally said that she had trouble after the first baby was born, but it has now been released that she had been treated in Iran for mental illness and due to her behavior on a flight, she was also treated in Qatar.

Not only was she prescribed Zyprexa after the first child was born, but she had been receiving counseling by the local mental health clinic. She had stopped taking Zyprexa (obviously) and had another child. After Masih was born, she had to resume taking the medication, but she found she couldn’t “bond” with the baby and felt like someone with “negative energy” would harm her children. Now relatives state that she was “like a zombie” for the two months since the birth of Masih.

You would have to be pretty hard-hearted not to see the problems that this poor woman was facing, wouldn’t you?

Hmmmmm?

See, initially, the father-in-law said that while they knew she was depressed, they didn’t think it was this bad. In fact he said, “There were no signs to believe something would happen. That’s the hardest part. It could have easily been prevented.”

Really? Well, either there were signs, like the lawyer is stating, or there weren’t, like the grandfather is saying. Which is it?

In fact, the grandfather, also known as Amir Golabbakhsh, stated that, “We know that she was under the medication, but we didn’t know that it was that bad.”

WTF?

“Under the medication”? What does that mean?

Why little Masih? If she feared for the lives of both children, as the lawyer has stated, then why was Masih the only one she took out to the bayou and buried alive? Why couldn’t she bond with Masih? Is this the reason why he alone was selected?

If she was struggling so badly just coping with life in general, then why did Amir and Narjes decide to have children in the first place?

And, once they saw how badly the first pregnancy affected her, then why oh why did they then proceed to have another child?

The lawyer has met the mother and described her as very quiet and very depressed. The focus is squarely on Parnham’s desire to force the state of Texas to change its legal definition of insanity to include postpartum depression.

The credibility problem arises when you look at the case on the merits of indisputable facts. The mother was on medication that worked after the birth of her first child. There were alternate caregivers available so she was not overwhelmed.

An element of premeditation appears to be involved here. She takes the baby out for a stroll on the day that the father and grandfather are away on business. While on this spring walk, a black man leaps from a nondescript vehicle to kidnap her baby.

Can someone explain to me why it is always a black man that steals these babies?

The state waited for the results of the autopsy prior to bringing charges against the mother. Given the fact that there appears to be malice aforethought, the state has brought capital murder charges against Narjes Modarresi for the deliberate death of Masih. She is currently being held in the Harris County Jail, undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. She has been denied bail at this point.

Believe it or not, the main concern of her lawyer is getting the Sherriff’s office to bend the rules to allow her to wear her headscarf for court appearances. It has been causing her untold grief and distress that she has not been allowed to wear it thus far.

There is definitely more to the story than has been released. It appears that she was a danger. Either they knew it and didn’t care, or they knew it and thought that the worst that could happen if she had more children was that she’d be very depressed. After her response with the first boy, the husband, the wife and the extended family knew she was a prime candidate for postpartum psychosis. A general physician can screen expectant mothers for risk factors for postpartum depression.

The fact that Narjes had incidents in her past where she clearly exhibited signs of mental illness indicates that she should have been assessed prior to giving birth the first time. Apparently they did not feel the need to do so. No matter. Once she had the first child, the doctors were able to diagnose her conditions and would have had a duty to explain what another pregnancy would mean in terms of her mental health.

None of the reports indicate whether or not someone discussed this with the family, but surely they would have tossed cultural standards aside and let Narjes know that she didn’t have to have any more children given her extremely high risk factor for developing a psychosis, right?

One newspaper report quoted one Dr. Nurun N. Shah, from the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center, who stated that postpartum psychosis is directed at infants, with a mother believing,

“in the delusion that an infant is a monster or deformed, and (that) the infant would be better off without living…”

So is that what happened and why only one of her children fell prey to this psychosis?

And was it postpartum psychosis?

And can this psychosis be considered insanity under the definition of the law?

See, this smacks of a planned event. It was not a spur of the moment kind of thing where she just lost it. She contacted the police and stated that her baby had been abducted by one/two/several black men. She maintained this story until she “broke down” at the police station and led the investigators to his body.

It is now a race to see how fast Parnham can have the interview she had with the police and her subsequent confession dismissed from the evidence that a jury will see and hear. The fact that she stated her baby had been kidnapped, the fact that she stayed with this lie long after the child could have been rescued, the fact that she deceived the police and her family, all of these factors indicate that Narjes was aware that her actions were wrong and thus, under the legal definition of sanity, she was not insane.

And really, the family seems to have absolved themselves of any responsibility of leaving either of the children in her care. Well, they knew she was depressed, and they had been looking after little Masih, raising him really, so what more do you expect, right?

I mean, hey, it isn’t as though they were burying their heads in the sand and pretending that she didn’t suffer from a serious mental disorder that could lead to psychotic events, right? I’m sure she was welcome to discuss her feelings with her husband and her in-laws, and they undoubtedly offered comfort and words of encouragement to this struggling new mom, right?

CPS has since ensured that the other boy is in the care of relatives.

There is a lot of noise right now on the internet about how this issue, postpartum depression, has not been addressed by society, about how mothers are overlooked, and yada yada yada. Yes, I know that motherhood is a tremendous strain for even healthy women, and yes, I realize that even Western society undervalues the roles women must take on.

But still…….

No one seems to remember that a wee baby boy, a little over two months old, was taken out of his stroller by his mother, placed face down in a shallow mud and water filled grave, covered up with earth and muck by the very woman who gave life to him, and slowly suffocated to death.
I can’t quite get the image out of my mind.

Little Masih was laid to rest on Sunday, April 25, 2010.

The photographs are, from top to bottom:

This Story Was Written And Submitted By Budgiegirl. Again, Let’s Have A Big Hand For Another Superb First Effort By Another Very Talented New Writer.

I also told myself that my pre-pregnancy size 2’s were a thing of the past given that I am an old broad and if I ain’t lost the baby weight by now, I’m not going to so just shut up and savor it. But as I sat there enjoying my drink and the relative peace and quiet of the coffee house, I thought about Jaime B. Day of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Jaime, 27, who does not appear to have missed too many meals, felt that it was perfectly acceptable to starve and torture her 9-year old step-son. Fortunately, we are not going to discuss the unfortunate death of an innocent 9-year old boy as he survived. But I think we are going to go ahead and call hell and reserve a spot for Jaime.

On February 19, 2010, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s office received an anonymous call about a child being abused and possibly being held against his will. When the deputies arrived at Jaime’s home, they discovered a door that had been tied shut with a dog leash.

Inside the room, they found a 9-year old boy wearing only a t-shirt, shorts and a diaper who was covered in filth and emaciated. When rushed to the hospital, the doctors discovered that the boy weighed only 38 pounds. The average weight of a 9-year old boy is 61.6 pounds. The doctors also discovered that the boy had a core body temperature of 92° which is consistent with severe malnutrition, was covered in feces, bruises and had a 2nd degree burn on his back.

The doctors determined that he had been suffering from long term abuse and starvation. His bedroom, which could only be described as worse than a prison cell at Gitmo, contained only a foam mat covering a box springs, which was saturated in urine and feces. After a 13 day stay in the hospital, the child was released into the custody of Child Services.

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there kids, not by a long shot. The boy, who is the biological child of Jaime’s husband, Murray Dalton Day, 30, was systematically beaten and starved by his step mother. One of her favorite things to do was to force the boy to watch as she and her two biological children ate their meals.

The boy confessed to the police that he had often drank his own urine and consumed his own feces to survive his ordeal. Yum. One form of discipline that Jaime employed was to heat a sock filled with rice and place it on the boy’s back causing the skin to burn.

Now to add insult to injury, this poor child at the age of 3 was removed from the care of his biological mother and given to his birth father because of severe physical abuse. It is safe to say that this little angel has never know a day without pain or suffering at the hands of the people who chose to give him life and who were responsible for his well-being and care.

Jaime was arrested and charged with 25 counts of cruelty to a child, and two counts of second degree assault of a child. Judge David Ritchie set her bond at $5.5 million. Murray Day has been charged with five counts of cruelty to a child and one count of second degree cruelty to a child. His bond was set at $2 million. The two biological children of Jaime, who showed no signs of abuse, neglect or starvation, were also taken into protective custody by the state.

According to Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective Michael Primeaux who is the lead investigator, the case is still under investigation with additional arrests and charges possible.

What could possibly make an adult think that beating, starving and torturing a child is a suitable form of parenting? I mean I’m sure she said to herself, “gee, it ain’t like he’s mine. So let’s have some fun, ya’ll.”

In what twisted universe does a child eat his own shit just to live? Jaime’s universe, obviously. Words cannot describe the rage, contempt, and loathing that I feel for this sorry excuse of a parent. Maybe she should be taken down to the sewage pit, given a spoon and told to dig in.

I hope, no I pray, that this little angel finds comfort, peace and love and that Jaime and Murray spend a good portion of the remainder of their sorry lives behind bars.

Editor’s Notes: What’s most amazing about this story is that, in spite of overwhelming evidence that there was long term and absolutely heinous abuse going on in the Day home, there are many family members and neighbors of Jaime and Murray Day who refuse to believe the abuse took place. These people are, as usual, very vocal, very rude, and very, very wrong.

Television Station KPLC in Lake Charles, Louisiana has a Facebook page for their local news department, and there’s quite a lot of activity under the entry dealing with this story (Click Here). I was amazed at the ridiculous reasons that Jaime and Murray Day couldn’t have done this.

They were good church going people. I was at her house, and never saw signs of any abuse. The boy was troubled and hurt himself. The boy was autistic and refused to eat. The boy was disturbed, so he was locked in his room 24/7 for his own safety. Jaime is being blamed for things that the boy did to himself.

It appeared to me that most of Jaime and Murray Day’s supporters came from their church, which, judging by the above excuses, just goes to show why it’s never a good idea to mix religion with crazy people. KPLC News attempted to interview some of these people who claimed the abused boy had mental health issues and hurt himself, but were unable to find any.

Several people, who know the family, have posted comments of support for Jaime, on our Facebook page. Some said the boy already had sever mental issues. Several attempts have been made by 7 News to speak with these people, but no one has come forward….

Go figure.

One can only imagine the March 7, 2010 “to do” list of Ashley Nicole Cox (AKA Ashley Jones), 20, of Corbin, Kentucky.

1. Go visit boyfriend at Roederer Men’s Correctional Complex
2. Give birth to a baby on a prison toilet in the visitors’ room.
3. Stuff toilet paper down the throat of the baby, suffocating it.
4. Throw body in the trash. Make sure to cover the body up with garbage.
5. Resume visit with boyfriend.
6. Pick up something for dinner on the way home.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that she claims to not have known she was pregnant? AND that she was a child care worker in a day care center who was taking classes in child development at a local college AND already had a 2 year old daughter? Oops, my bad. Ashley claims to have:

a) not known she was pregnant
b) not remember giving birth, jamming toilet paper down the throat of her newborn daughter, thereby suffocating the child to death, and dumping the lifeless body in the trash.

Right, sure – that’s her story and she is sticking to it. Even though the father of baby claims that Ashley told him she was pregnant months before the birth.

So kids, let’s review. On the morning of March 7th, Ashley went to see her boyfriend, 21-year-old inmate Justin Bell at the Roederer Men’s Correctional Complex near La Grange, KY, in the company of two of Bell’s relatives. FYI, Bell, who was incarcerated on burglary and theft charges (oooh, nice choice in potential mate material there Ashley) was not the father of the newborn.

During the visit, Ashley complained of feeling sick and then locked herself in the bathroom of the visitors’ room. It is alleged (gee, have to use that word as she has pled not guilty and of course has not been tried yet) that Ashley delivered a healthy, full-term baby girl.

One can only imagine what raced through Ashley’s mind as she gazed upon the sweet little face of her newborn daughter. Instead of, “oh she’s beautiful, I am so blessed” it probably went more along the lines of “oh shit.”

So instead of screaming her head off and demanding immediate medical attention for herself and her 6 lb, 5 oz HEALTHY, living, breathing, beautiful daughter, she shoved so much toilet paper into her mouth and down her throat that it formed a mold of the infant’s mouth.

Once she was sure her daughter was dead, she buried the body in the trash can, covered it with as much bathroom waste as she could find then proceeded to try and clean up the bathroom.

Now as many of you know, giving birth to a child, even under normal circumstances is one damn bloody, mess. I mean just that pesky placenta alone is a tad wet and gooey (sorry fellers, but its true). It would be virtually impossible to clean up using only paper towels, especially state issued single ply paper towels. But remember where I said that Ashley went to see her beloved with a couple of his relatives?

Well, they became a tad concerned when she hadn’t reappeared from the can after oh, 40 minutes. I mean the girly bathroom rule usually only applies for maybe 20 minutes, and after all, she wasn’t using the girly buddy system. So they did what any concerned person would do, they went to check on her.

When she refused to open the door, the relatives alerted the prison officials who finally threatened to revoke her visitor pass if she didn’t open up. When she opened the door, whoopsie, a bit of a mess to explain.

Ashley’s solution, tell them that she had a history of ovarian cysts and was having a rough period. Yeah, that explains the bloody mess on the floor, walls, sink – nothing wrong in here guys, I’m just having the period from hell.

Naturally the prison officials called an ambulance and had Ashley taken to the prison infirmary. Given the amount of blood in the bathroom, the nurses didn’t quite believe the “I’m having a bad period” story. Upon physical examination, it was determined that she had not had a miscarriage or was having a rough menstrual cycle, but had given birth to a full term baby.

After an exhaustive search, her daughter’s tiny body was finally found and Ashley was promptly arrested. She is currently being held on $2.5 million bond awaiting trial. The father of her 2 year old daughter has filed for custody.

When interviewed by police, Cox’s employer, family and others said they had no idea she was pregnant.
“We were unaware of this pregnancy and we strongly believe she was unaware of it too,” Ashley’s sister Tiffany Cox told reporters outside of the Oldham County Courthouse Wednesday. “We are not only in shock but we are grieving this unexpected loss.”

Unexpected loss? Are you kidding me? I know that they are in shock, and I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here but “unexpected loss” just doesn’t cut it. This piece of shit shoved toilet paper down the throat of a newborn.

The preliminary autopsy showed that her daughter was born alive and had taken several breathes before Ashley shoved toilet paper down her tiny throat. FUCKING TOILET PAPER! I mean, I just can’t get that image out of my head. This sorry excuse for a woman extinguished the life of her tiny, helpless newborn daughter in the bathroom of a prison. Not only is she a sick and twisted monster, but she is incredibly stupid as well. I mean talk about the “locked room” theory. Not like she can say someone broke in and did it. She was in a prison.

Best of luck there on the defense Ashley, not that there is any defense to what you have done. Well, I hoped she liked the facilities where she committed this inexcusable act. I just pray the State of Kentucky lets her be their guest in one of their finer prisons for a very, very, very, long time.

These two sisters, along with an unnamed 7-year-old sister, were adopted by Renee Bowman from the District of Columbia. Renee, the ravaging beauty below, systematically starved and then asphyxiated both Jasmine and Minnet.

After they died, she wrapped them in plastic, seeled them with duct tape and put them in her freezer. She even brought the freezer along with her after she moved from Rockland, Maryland to Lusby, Maryland. I mean we have all dealt with some sick ass fucks before, but moving their bodies in a freezer? I think Renee just is a serious contender for the sick and twisted award of the year.

Bowman had locked the 7 year old in a room and left home to run a few errands. On September 26, 2008, the little girl, who had not eaten in three days, broke out the window on the second floor and jumped out of the house. She then went to a neighbor and asked for help. She told the neighbor that she was hungry and that her mother had beaten her two sisters to death.

When police arrived, they found the girl to be covered in blood and feces and to have “extensive open infected sores and open lesions, several injuries to her feet and knees, and ligature marks and extensive scarring on her neck.” This bitch had tortured her own daughter. But what’s a little torture when you have two kids on ice in a freezer?

When questioned by police, Renee Bowman admitted to beating the girl with a shoe and told them about the bodies of her two other daughters in her freezer. Bowman claimed that the one child had died from starvation and the other child had died as a result of a fall that occurred while she was beating her. Nice try Renee, but the medical examiner ruled that both children died from asphyxiation.

Renee Bowman was finally convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. She was sentenced to life without parole. Even though Bowman did not testify at her trial, she told the court that, “I am very sorry for the abuse of the girls,” Bowman said. “It haunts me. It haunts me every day.” Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Algeo called Renee Bowman’s crimes “horrific, reprehensible and despicable” and said they were the worst he had seen during his 25 years as an attorney and a judge.

Why would Renee Bowman adopt three adorable little girls, only to torture, starve and eventually kill two of them? Simple: She was receiving a monthly stipend of $2,400.00 from the District of Columbia to aid in the care of these children. This worked out to around $150,000.00. And what did she do with this monthly stipend? Obviously, she didn’t miss too many meals. And since she was starving these innocent little girls, she didn’t need to buy food for them.

Nope, instead of loving, caring, FEEDING and nurturing these children, she was shopping on Ebay. While the 7 year old went hungry and the bodies of Jasmine and Minnet were lying in ice in her freezer, this sack of shit was surfing the net and letting her fingers do the clicking.

But who in their right mind would allow this woman to adopt these helpless children? Three guesses, and the first two don’t count. That’s right, The District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services. They allowed Bowman to adopt in 2001 and again in 2004 even though she had a misdemeanor conviction in 1999 for threatening physical violence against a 72-year-old man and filing for bankruptcy in 2001.

What is even more horrific is that it is alleged that in January of 2008, a state investigator from the Maryland Department of Human Resources went to the Bowman home to investigate a report of abuse. The investigator concluded that there were no obvious signs of abuse and that the children appeared well. Yet we have two dead children frozen in a freezer in September. No signs of abuse or neglect? Not likely.

The 7-year-old daughter has been placed in protective services and is said to be doing well with her new foster family. Words cannot adequately express the anger and revulsion that I personally feel toward Renee Bowman. As far as I’m concerned, this woman should be taken out back behind the courthouse and shot.

And while I am filled with sorrow and sympathy for the 7 year old, I am also amazed at her sheer will to live. To survive and tell everyone what “Mom” had done. I can only hope that she finds peace, love and healing. Bowman pleaded guilty to a first-degree child abuse charge relating to abuse of the 7-year old girl and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Enjoy your slow roast in hell Renee.

Burn baby burn.

Woops! I mistook this for an update, when in actuality it’s a brand new article. It was written by a veteran PYSIH writer, Blondie, who took a long break from her duties her at the site to have a baby last year. If this is a sign that she’s back to writing regularly for us, you guys are in for some first class articles by a first class author. Blondie was my go to girl when I first took over the day to day operations, and, judging by the quality of this story, it looks like she still has every bit of the talent she had back then.