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(Emily) Jane and (Nancy) Jean Hopkins were bright fraternal twins who grew up on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River. As adults they settled in exclusive Dallas area neighborhoods. Jane Hopkins attended Harvard and became a chemical engineer and business woman. Jean joined a national brokerage firm and was active in Dallas social circles. Close relatives noticed signs of mental illness in the twins. When Jean was pregnant she tried to kill her two young sons and herself with a drug overdose. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity in June 1996. On July 30, 1997, Jane, 41, fatally stabbed her 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter and then killed herself.
Shortly before Christmas 2001, Christian Longo tossed his killed his wife, MaryJane Longo, and their 3 children, Zachary, Sadie Ann, and Madison; then stuffed their bodies into luggage and pillowcases, and dumped their bodies into Oregon's Pacific Coast. He was captured living in a grass hut at a beach resort in Mexico.
Analysis of Deanna Laney Verdict -- A mother stones her two sons to death, and critically injures another, claiming God told her to do it. A jury found her not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. Is Garrett Wilson a loving father In 1987, Wilson's 5 month-old son, Garrett Michael, died. Missy Anastasi, Wilson's wife, suspected foul play. A medical examiner ruled he died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Seven years later, Anastasi discovered Wilson secretly divorced her to marry another woman, and had another child. She asked police to look into her son's death. What they found shocked them. Can police gather enough evidence? Read Chapter 1 of Adrian Havill's gripping examination of the Garrett Wilson case.-- Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V
Theresa Cross Knorr -- Theresa Knorr pled guilty to 2 counts of murder in exchange for her sons, victims of child abuse, not being prosecuted. She received 2 life sentences. She is at the State Prison for Women in Chow Chilla, Calif. Mother's Day by Dennis McDougal -- Theresa Cross Knorr had several husbands, one of whom she killed, until she ended up as a single mother with 2 boys and 3 girls. Then she began to torture and kill the girls as they became old enough that their beauty made her angry. June l985, while her sons held their half-sister down, Theresa beat daughter Sheila, l9, and then stuffed her into a 2' X 2' storage locker. After 3 days, the knocking, kicking, and cries stopped. Theresa and her sons dumped the body. The summer before, Theresa dug a bullet out of her daughter Suesan's chest with a paring knife. When Suesan failed to recover, Theresa and her sons doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. Theresa got away with murder, until her youngest daughter, Terry Knorr Graves, found a cop who believed the story of her murdered sisters. October 25, 1994, in Union, South Carolina, Susan Smith drowned her sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, in John D. Long Lake then reported a black man had stolen her car with her children. A week later, Smith confessed she had drowned them by driving into a lake. The defense's sentencing phase of the trial, focused on her past. While serving her life sentence Smith admitted to having sex with a Dept of Corrections guard. Susan placed an online personal ad seeking not judgmental pen pals who want to write to a "sensitive, caring, and kind-hearted" convicted murderer who loves "rainbows, Mickey Mouse, the beach, the mountains, and waterfalls." She adds, "I have grown and matured alot since my incarceration, but I will always hurt for the pain I've caused so many, especially my children."
Marie Noe, 70 was arrested at her Philadelphia house and charged with smothering 8 of her very young children, 30 years after the last death. Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson - 20, were sentenced in Wilmington, Del., to a couple years in prison after the college students and former high-school sweethearts pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of their newborn son in a motel in 1996. Dr. Jeffrey R. MacDonald -- The Princeton-educated Army surgeon is in prison for the murder of his wife and 2 young daughters. Diane Downs, is a woman convicted of the shooting of her own 3 young children. Parents who slay their kids -- A father turned his home into a gas chamber, killing 5 children. A former nurse drowns 5 children in the bathtub. Since the myth of Medea, who murdered her children after her lover deserted her, filicide is society's most aberrant act. The EMT's were called to the trailer home of Patrick Bourgeois and Tracy Bratton in Columbus, Ohio on February 28th, 1996. The couple was attempting to clean up the tiny body of P. J, 3, on the floor and hide the tape they had used to bind his arms and legs. Sheryl Hardy - Was sent to prison in Florida for the murder of her son, Bradley, 2. In 1989, Hardy, 33, said she lit a cigarette and watched as her husband, Thomas Coe, shoved his stepson's head into the toilet like a plunger and then beat him with couch cushions. Bradley died the next day. Hardy claims Bradley was conceived out of rape. She met Coe living in his truck. After they abandoned the 4 months infant at a mall, he was placed in foster care. Hardy married Coe and had a daughter. Bradley's foster parents wanted to adopt him, but Hardy fought and won custody. Sixty-six days after Bradley was returned to his biological mother he was dead. Coe was responsible for the worst abuses but Bradley's mother cleaned him with a garden hose, shook him violently, and ran a fork of feces over his mouth. Coe is serving a life sentence for 1st degree murder. Their daughter and a second girl born in prison were placed for adoption. Hardy has no contact with them. After Hardy served 9 years she moved to her hometown where an Illinois judge awarded her custody of her 9-month-old son. Melissa Drexler - “The Prom Mom” arrived at her senior prom, gave birth to a 6 lb, 6 oz son, baby boy, strangled him to death, threw him in the garbage, and returned to the prom where she ate and requested the Metallica song “Unforgiven” to be played for her boyfriend. She plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter. Marco Barrera Sentenced to death for killing his daughter, "Lupita" Esquivel, 2; and a son, Ernesto Esquivel, 5. The victims' mother, Petra Ricardo, 38, pleaded " no contest" to child endangerment and agreed to testify against her husband and sister, Maria Ricardo, 31. Barrera had 8 children, including the victims, with Petra Ricardo, had 6 more with her sister, Maria. Thirteen children, including the victims, lived with Maria and Barrera in a converted garage. Andrea Yates, 36, Texas - Suffering from postpartum depression since the birth of her 2-year-old, she drowned her 5 children, ranging in age, from 6 months to 7 years. Child Protection Services had investigated the family after Andrea's suicide attempt two years before believed the children were being cared for properly. Christina Marie Fiske, 22, a former Western Carolina University student plead guilty to killing her 6.5 pound newborn baby baby girl. Fiske admitted killing her shortly after birth and bagging her with her trash. Forced prenatal care - Rebecca Corneau may be a religious extremist whose gross negligence allowed her baby to die. Corneau and her husband are members of a religious sect that calls itself a "sovereign nation." The group from 3 interrelated families, adheres to what they interpret as the tenets of the Old Testament. They home school their 13 children, and believe conventional medicine, is blasphemous. Kirk Douglas Billie, 32, Miccosukee Indian, is accused of killing his two young sons. Prosecutors say Billie, drowned his sons in an act of vengeance against his girlfriend. The Miccosukee tribe settled with Billie, after an apology and they asked prosecutors to leave it at that. The 2nd-degree murder verdict means he could receive 15 years in prison for each count. Ora Armenthia Prince - formerly known as Ora Lewis, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing her son, Willie Brookshire Jr., 10, in 1993 and leaving his body in the closet of a homeless shelter. Socorro "Cora" Caro, 42, Nov. 22, 1999 after a fight with her husband, Xavier Caro, 52, a Northridge physician, killed her sleeping children , Joey, 11, Michael, 8 and Christopher, 5 with a .38 caliber handgun. Caro shot herself in the head but survived. An infant, was unharmed. Xavier arrived home to the bodies of his 3 children and wounded wife. Socorro who originally contended her husband killed her children, and shot her. pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Father whose wife killed 5 kids in 1965 -- Nov. 22, 1965, Maggie Young, a 38-year-old mother of 7 drowned her 5 youngest children in a bathtub. Her husband, James Young, an Air Force captain, had been away on a flying mission. April 22, 2006 Kari & Associates Copyright Kari Sable Burns 1994-2006 |
Books On Child Abuse A look at the case of Debra Jean Milke, on death row in Arizona for arranging the murder of her 4-year-old son. Prosecutors say Milke had him killed because he was an "inconvenience". Milke claims her conviction hinges on the unsupported word of one police officer and the vengeful testimony of embittered family members. Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood Dying for Daddy by Carlton Smith -- June 1992, hearts went out to Jack Barron when his wife Irene died in her sleep. Barron was at work when his wife's body was found by a neighbor. On Feb. 7, 1993, Jeremy, 4, died. Aug. 7, 1994, Ashley, 4, died. Followed by Barron's mother, Roberta Butler, 52, in February 1995 whose body was found in her condominium. They had a stormy relationship, until Roberta announced she wanted to evict him. Before she could she was found dead. Barron's former girlfriend, Starla Hayes, told a judge soon after his wife's death, Barron made a disquieting remark to Jeremy, 3, for crying about his "Mommy," Jack shouted, "If you don't shut up, I'll send you to where Mommy is!" After his wife died, Barron found himself with no one to baby-sit his kids. Hayes, a mother of two, 6 and 8, faced the same problem, she and her husband had separated. She and her two children moved into Barron's 3-bedroom home several months after Irene's death to share child-care duties. Hayes and Barron began having sex. Barron was arrested 5 months after the death of his mother. The motive for the slayings was Barron's hatred of his father, who divorced Barron's mother and abandoned him when he was a teenager. He wanted out of his marriage and to collect $170,000 in insurance. Barron is the first man known to suffer from Munchausen-by-Proxy, where a person causes illness or death to a loved one to attain sympathy. Photos. Bitter Harvest: A Woman's Fury, A Mother's Sacrifice |
Evil Twins: Chilling True Stories of Twins, Killing, and Insanity
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