A 28-year-old mother killed two of her children and severely injured her two others during a botched exorcism attempt, police said Saturday.
Police described a shocking bloody scene at the Germantown home Friday morning when they found a 1-year-old and 2-year-old dead in a home due to multiple stab wounds. A 5-year-old and 8-year-old were also injured and are receiving medical treatment, Montgomery police said.
Police announced Saturday the mother, Zakieya Latrice Avery, 28, and another woman, Monifa Denise Sanford, 21, were trying to perform an exorcism on the children. They were both charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
This is an inappropriate time to insert my feelings about religion, so I just want to say that I feel terribly for these children and hope that those who survived received comprehensive counseling and are placed in loving homes.
We are making progress in stamping out superstition, I just wish we could somehow speed it up.
Once when I was counseling a mother for WIC, she commented that she thought her baby was evil. I attempted to assure her that babies can make us unhappy sometimes, but they are not evil. It was not in my scope of practice or ability to further this, but I noted it in her chart. Other counselors thought that was strange of me to notate it, but I hope that others would be alerted.
ReplyDeleteHaving 4 young children to mind by the age of 28 with little money & probably no help tells most of the story here - it really doesn't relate to religion - it relates to women being completely unprepared for the life GOP politicians demand that they lead. Providing birth control is the best known method for avoiding this type of insanity
DeleteBabies are never evil and neither are the mothers who cannot cope with their lives - they are searching for a reason for not coping and getting very wrong guidance from many areas - including religious leaders.
It sounds like postpartum psychosis (or run-of-the-mill psychosis), not just being overwhelmed. Calling your child "evil" isn't the same as saying your child is a pain in the ass, demanding, etc.
DeletePost partum is not contagious, there is no way on Dogs earth they were both suffering from post partum.
DeleteSo sad for these little children but sometimes people have lots of children who aren't financially or mentally prepared to be parents. I certainly hope the two that survived will get a second chance for a normal life and that their mother will be put behind bars for a good long time.
ReplyDeletePastor Muthee of Sarah Palin's Church of Speaking In Tongues
ReplyDeletehas these types of rituals.
And the catholic church still has exorcists! So what? It's still stupid.
DeleteLeland,
DeleteThe catholic church is one of the biggest scourges on this earth and should be dismantled and done away with. Just a cult, a cult that hurts more than it could ever help. Of course they have exorcists, and pedophiles and misogynistic principles. They are archaic and repressive and hurt many more people than they have ever helped.
Geez 4:44! Tell me something I DON'T know! I'm just like Jesse on this - organized religions like the catholic church are destroyers. Hell, religion is a destroyer.
DeleteI repeat the comment I made in response to 3:09: It's still stupid!
The family belonged to a Church of the Brethern, which is absolutely not Catholic--in fact, they're anti-Catholic.
DeleteHer lawyer will claim not guilty by reason of insanity and once the doctors state she is cured, she'll be released.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it is long enough down the road that her surviving children will be old enough to be wise enough to see what happened FULLY and accept apologies with a HUGE grain of salt.
Definitely mentally ill, both of them. Mom, mentally ill. Friend, sadistically. I hope the kids find a good home, with loving new parents, with no chance of going home to Mom. She's going to need a long long time in a facility.
ReplyDelete28 with 4 children. Sometimes those that are least fit as parents breed like rabbits and then do stupid stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteSarah and the Heath women breed like rabbits and do stupid stuff, but that's neither here nor there, those kids are victims of a violent attack, the circumstances being what they may, that woman deserves to be thrown in jail for the rest of her life.
DeleteThere was a mention in the Post that she was having mental issues. Those poor little ones.
ReplyDeleteM from MD
I bet those babies were hungry and wet, and were crying for attention. My husband recalls an incident with his mother where she gathered the four of them (ages 2-8) and they all sat on the floor while she prayed loudly. He was scared. She went away for awhile after that, and no one ever talks about it. She became 'born again' and a follower of PTL, Fox and the Heritage Foundation later in life. Obviously, we never talked politics.
ReplyDeleteShe very well could have performed an Andrea Yates or Susan Smith and drowned your husband and his siblings. They were spared. What a terribly frightful thing to witness, her breakdown like that.
DeleteAndrea Yates had post partum and those children died because her husband went to work and left her alone, he knew what was going to happen. Smith killed her children to be with her bf. I really don't think those are like scenerios.
DeleteBetcha anything these two women were methed up or cracked up or PCPed up and in a delusion thought the kids were possessed.
ReplyDeleteHow tragic.
If it is proven that is the case, they need to hang.
DeleteI'm sorry if that upsets some people, but that truly IS evil!
G -
ReplyDeleteHave seen this on other sites and get misty eyed every time I see it. Hard to put into words the sadness I feel. G - grateful for your tempered comments - you are a good man.
Pat Padrnos
Well..that is just so fucking sad.
ReplyDeleteTexasMel
Wonkette has a good post today that features commentary from some folks that actually survived and overcame their christian educational experience.
ReplyDeletehttp://wonkette.com/539631/sundays-with-the-christianists-special-reader-mailbag-edition#more-539631
It's no surprise that mental illness often manifests itself in hyper-religious delusions and actions. And vice-versa.
ReplyDeleteHow the FUCK do you believe a 12 month old and a 24 month old are possessed?! Possessed by the Devil or his minions - whatever the fuck they like to invoke because let's face it, the only evil around are in women such as them.
ReplyDeletePat Benetar was so right. "Hell is for Children". I don't believe in a hell or a heaven, but these poor innocent kids have experienced pure evil in it's most vial form. Thanks for separating religion just this once, but what "sin" could they have done to "deserve" exorcism (aka child abuse aka infanticide)
ReplyDeleteSome lawyer trying to make a name for themselves will insert themselves here to save the parent(s). Probably blame it on mental illness or Judas Priest music.
horrible for the children. But notice how much easier it is to talk about breeding and be disgusted with the mothers than it is to offer a bit of respite or a helping hand to women in the same situation.. And, as far as I know, despite some religious claims, women do not get pregnant by themselves - although all too many of them end up raising the children alone. Where are the fathers?
ReplyDelete