Quote:
Teen Kills Mother of Three While Texting Suicide Attempt to Another Girl
Friday , October 20, 2006
ATLANTA — A lovesick teenage girl slammed her car into oncoming traffic in a suicide attempt as she counted down "ten, nine, eight ..." in text messages to the female classmate who spurned her, authorities said. The teenager survived but a woman in the other car, a mother of three, died.
Sixteen-year-old Louise Egan Brunstad faces a charge of felony murder for ramming her family's Mercedes-Benz head-on into a smaller Daewoo driven by 30-year-old Nancy Salado-Mayo of Mexico who was killed. District Attorney Paul Howard said he likely will try Brunstad as an adult. If convicted, she faces an automatic life sentence.
The prosecutor said records from a series of text messages sent from Brunstad's phone in the seconds leading up to the crash show her intentions and played into his decision to file a murder charge Thursday against Brunstad.
"There was what might be described as a countdown to the actual event — ten, nine, eight ... then the crash," Howard said.
The messages match the time of the wreck on Oct. 4. Howard said it is unclear whether the classmate they were intended for responded to them or even read them either as they were sent or afterward.
Brunstad had told friends she planned to kill herself after the female student at Holy Innocents Episcopal School refused to have sex with her, according to prosecutors.
Witnesses told police the girl never slowed down as she crossed over a turning lane and into oncoming traffic on busy Roswell Road in Atlanta's upscale Buckhead neighborhood.
"We know this was an intentional act," Howard said.
Salado-Mayo's middle child, Lesly, 6, was in a child safety seat and was treated for fractured ribs and other injuries that Howard said may be permanent.
The girl's attorney, Drew Findling, declined to discuss the charges but expressed the family's sadness over the crash.
After a memorial service in Atlanta, Salado-Mayo's body was returned to her native Mexico for burial. Her husband, Mario Bibiano, a steel worker, was unable to attend the funeral because he remained by his daughter's bedside at an Atlanta hospital.
Brunstad, who was treated for an ankle injury, was on crutches in court Thursday for a brief hearing on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
Findling said she was free on bond Friday, but refused to say if she was home with her family. Howard said terms of her bond require her to enter a mental health facility and wear an electronic monitor around her ankle to prevent her from running away.
Officials at Brunstad's school did not immediately return telephone calls by The Associated Press on Friday. No one answered the telephone at the Brunstads' home.
I read this just a short while ago and was just flabbergasted. Coupled with the article that someone posted in OT about the mentally challenged person having a plumber's snake shoved up his a$$ by a 16 and 17 year old really got me thinking.
I honestly think that the parents of these children should be investigated as well. I'm sure that the parents aren't completely to blame, but come on. Something had to have happened in these child's lives for them to perform these actions. Maybe the parents did it, maybe they didn't... but maybe if parents these days paid a little more attention to their children, crap like this wouldn't happen. This really sickens me.
Here is a quote from Kanewtz from that thread in OT:
KanewtZ wrote:How can you blame that on parenting?
I know alot of parents who don't give two craps about their kids, and they are normal...I also know parents who raised their kids correctly and some are in jail now.
Don't make assumptions you cannot back up with facts, JimmyZ
I've seen that too. But I also know that kids that were raised in the 70's and 80's did not do stuff like this. So where's the failure? Personally, I still think it's with the parents. The parents of these kids that are shooting up schools, molesting younger children and the mentally handicapped, and downright murdering people like the girl in the above article did, should be investigated thoroughly.
Just want some opinions.
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
GOD DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!
STOP BLAMING THE PARENTS FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!! EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE LACK OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, NO FREAKIN' WONDER BECAUSE OF FReQ Z AND JIMMYZ BLAMING PARENT'S FOR EVERYTHING A KID DOES!!!!! IT'S NEVER A KIDS FAULT WHEN THEY DO STUPID CRAP, IT'S OBVIOUSLY THE PARENTS FAULT!
FRICK DAMN IT.
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
Glace wrote:GOD DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!
STOP BLAMING THE PARENTS FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!! EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE LACK OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, NO FREAKIN' WONDER BECAUSE OF FReQ Z AND JIMMYZ BLAMING PARENT'S FOR EVERYTHING A KID DOES!!!!! IT'S NEVER A KIDS FAULT WHEN THEY DO STUPID CRAP, IT'S OBVIOUSLY THE PARENTS FAULT!
FRICK DAMN IT.
slow down there turbo.
so you're saying that a teenager, who has basically no life experience whatsoever, should be completely held responsible for collecting a mass arsenal in his bedroom and attempting to blow up the school? that it's not the parents fault AT ALL for what this kid's actions are?
so what use are parents then? by your logic, as soon as a child is walking, talking and feeding itself, it should be okay to send it out into the world to fend for itself.
you can honestly tell me that that child's behavior is in no way related to his or her upbringing, or lack thereof?
and btw... this isn't "stupid crap". this isn't putting a baseball through someone's front window, or lighting a paper sack of dog $hit on someone's front porch. this is rape, murder and torture.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Friday, October 20, 2006 12:10 PM
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
I never meant to come off as saying the children should not be held responsible for their actions either. if I came across like that, I apologize.
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
i just wanna make a comment before this gets locked
i <3 lesbians
First of all, you're confusing the topic by throwing in other instances of kids committing crimes. They have different causes, different acts.
On the suicidal girl.. She's possibly mentally ill. Now let me make something clear.
Your mind can be sick just like any other organ. If your heart, kidneys or lungs can develop problems that are not your fault, why can't your mind? Your mind is far more complex, far more fragile, therefore more suspectable to errors.
Without knowing the psychiatric report, I don' t want to make any judgments. I will say this, if she does come back as mentally ill, there might not be a treatment available, as we barely understand how the mind works. If that's the case, she should remain committed as she will still be a danger.
As for the kids who build up stockpiles of guns before mowing down their classmates, I do believe that's a clear failure of the parents. Maybe they have a "bad apple" that they can't do anything about, but there's no reason to not know your kids have guns.
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I doubt this will get locked, but I'll add my $0.02 anyways.
In my opinion, the parents should be held accountable, BUT for much less than the child themselves. That is to say, the child, as a concious being, knew what was going on and what was going to happen. I personally don't know of any parents, especially those who send their little girl to 'Holy Innocents Episcopal' School, who would raise their child to believe that stealing a car from them is fine, much less deciding to take their own life because of love. Children in their teens are incredibly impressionable as we all know. However, with the increasing amount of stress on social interaction, and so many kids doing things just to 'get away from home for a while' must lead us to the conclusion that the parents don't have as much influence on their kids as they would like to think. During this time, adolescents can get idea from a massive number of inappropriate places. The media is one of the biggest culprits. Kids see things in movies about dying for love, and they look up to that, they begin to feel like it's worth it. I'm not debating to power of love, I have more respect for love than most, but at the age of 16, love is rarely in it's true form.
Basically what I'm trying to get across is that parents are responsible for raising the kid, imbuing the values that they feel are appropriate, and creating a base for a successful life. The parents, however, are NOT responsible for making these types of decisions for their children. They will try, and as most of us know, parents telling you 'no' makes you want to do it even more. Most teens in the state this girl was in don't confide these types of things in their parents. They might not even show warning signs of depression or suicidal tendencies. Her parents might not have even seen her between the traumatic event (girl refusing sex) and the car fiasco. She might have come straight home and then taken the car.
We can't immediately jump to the parents every time something like this happens. Deeper analysis is almost mandatory before blame is settled. Like I said, there are certain instances where parents can be held accountable, but never 100%. A concious individual cannot completely control and influence another without knowledge of the other concious person.
Glace wrote:GOD DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!
STOP BLAMING THE PARENTS FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!! EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE LACK OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, NO FREAKIN' WONDER BECAUSE OF FReQ Z AND JIMMYZ BLAMING PARENT'S FOR EVERYTHING A KID DOES!!!!! IT'S NEVER A KIDS FAULT WHEN THEY DO STUPID CRAP, IT'S OBVIOUSLY THE PARENTS FAULT!
FRICK DAMN IT.
Parents are responsible for everything a kid does. Deal with it. Too many parents today take no responsibility for their kids behavior and then complain when people like me suggest that if they can't do their job that we should do it for them.
You want the day to come when kids are removed from families and raised by the state? Keep going down that road. Take no responsibility. That's fine. Either way this problem will eventually be resolved.
I say criminally charge parents for every crime a kid under 15 commits. Kid assaults someone? Charge the parents for assault and the kid for assault. Equal responsibility. Then fine them for every crime their kids commit under the age of 18. Don't want to raise your kids? Fine, we'll force ya. Happy now?
The sins of the father shall not be visted upon the son.
Works both ways...
If you're a parent and you leave it to the school system to raise your kids (as opposed to educating them) you're going to get a flawed product. Same thing goes with broad spectrum pharmaceutical parenting. No one is saying it's the parent's fault solely, but they laid the poor ground work, they must accept their share of the responsibility.
This girl may, or may not be mentally ill, and if she is, I hope she gets what treatment she needs, be it chemical or mental hygene. If the parents were raising a latchkey kid, then they own a lot of the responsibility for the preamble to this act because they failed to notice the signs that there are problems, and failed to instill their values in the mind of the child.
Everyone involved (parents, kid, family) has a hand in this. If everyone owns their part of the problem, maybe they can have a solution that will prevent it from happening again, and maybe help the kid that was injured to have a real life.
The act is passed, start focusing on the future.
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
She's being tried as an adult, so in the eyes of the state she's old enough to understand the consequences of her actions AND metally stable enough to assist in her defense.
Before you rush to nail the parents, or parenting in general, ask yourself about how much YOU communicated to your parents when you were a teenager about girls/boys you had a crush on. There may have been warning signs, maybe not. My younger two children have a lot to say when I ask "how was school today", my older one needs a lot more prying to open up and I'm sure I don't hear half of what happens. Of course there isn't an arsenal being built up in his bedroom, but that doesn't mean he's not friends with someone who has an arsenal.
Raising kids is like bowling... You throw them in the right direction and hope for the best. Sometimes it's a strike, sometimes it's a gutter ball, sometimes it's a 7-10 split. After they leave your hand, it's all up to them.
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
The story said she was being held over for evaluation. If she knew what she was doing, and that it was wrong, she gets the full monte... If she wasn't on the right mental plane, then she gets treated.
John, I see what you're saying, but more often than not, I see parents that don't even bother aiming, don't bother worrying about why their kids are hitting the gutter, or worse, don't even bother putting on the shoes or even showing up at the lanes (to take the analogy a little further). Letting them go is one thing, and I know that in my case, I didn't (and still don't) like to talk to my folks, but they at least paid attention to what I was doing and my folks knew enough of what was going on in my life that when I got in trouble, they were neither surprised, nor caught flat-footed.
You CAN let the ball go, but you can also coax it on the right path... The girl was 16, so, she was adult enough to drive, but not adult enough to deal with how she felt. Had the parents been there in the past, they would have been able to see that things weren't right (I'm pretty sure you can pick up that things aren't all well) and help or intervene as necessary.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, October 22, 2006 4:58 PM
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
I think nailing parents for their kids actions is a terrible idea.
My wife and I are highly involved with reforming the foster care system in CA. We also are active in adoption-related issues. 40% of all families have considered adoption, 17% seriously. But 67% are afraid of an adopted child's mental health and that the child will have problems in school and as an adult. And they ARE 6 times more likely TO have problems.
Why do I say all this? You will KILL adoption if you pass such laws. No one will want to risk their lives over these kids that need help the most.
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