A Kansas mom stabbed and beat her son to death because she thought he'd be better off in heaven, police said.
Lindsey Blansett was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly killing her 10-year-old son, Caleb, on Sunday, KAKE reported.
Caleb's 9-year-old sister was home during the grisly attack, Wellington police said.
The 33-year-old mom took a rock and a knife to her son's bedroom after he went to sleep Sunday, Sumner County Attorney Kerwin Spencer said in a court complaint.
Earlier that evening, Blansett "decided his life would be full of suffering and pain and that it would be better for him to go to heaven" than to "face the world's problems," the complaint said.
She allegedly hit him with the rock and then stabbed him in the chest.
He died in his bedroom.
Years ago I was assigned to work with a boy who was actively trying to kill himself. A lot of troubled kids make these threats to get attention but this one was deadly serious.
The reason why is because life was too hard for him and his fundamentalist parents had taught him all his life that Heaven was this amazing place where all of his pain would be taken away and he would be happy forever.
We watched him around the clock for several weeks, and intervened during numerous attempts to take his own life. I personally had to unwrap another care coordinator's shoestrings from around his neck.
And during all of this protocol forbid us from criticizing his religion or from explaining to his young man that his parents were superstitious idiots. Essentially we simply had to avoid discussing his beliefs altogether and instead discuss with him all of the wonderful possibilities that he would miss if he took his life prematurely.
Today he is a grown man, with a job and a girlfriend. He is happy.
Don't ever tell me that religion cannot be incredibly destructive.
I have seen it myself.
No words. :(
ReplyDeleteAs brainwashing as it can be, and as destructive as it can be, I have known several people suffering from extreme depression- suicidal, that were essentially 'saved' if you will, or at least found some happiness and purpose thru religion, christianity to be exact ('merika).
ReplyDeleteI'm full on agnostic, but I don't see any purpose to act militantly anti-religion to other people. There is freedom of religion and freedom of choice and you aren't going to stop it. If this lady killed her own kid over religion, she is either lying or psychotic. Really the same goes for anyone willing to kill or commit suicide, something aint right in the head, and it isn't just religion.
I full on agree with this and I was raised in the Lutheran faith.
DeleteHaving recognized the power that faith has for some people that aren't willing or able to understand the actual functioning of the human brain I still feel that religion does much more harm than good. I was raised Atheist so I will never understand "faith" anymore than people can understand my total lack of it, however, if that's your cup of tea then so be it. I don't go around trying to turn faithful into Atheists. The faithful just need to be more cognizant of their behavior of trying to push their "faith" on me.
DeleteNot everyone's brain is capable of handling the horrors of the acts of man that surround us without resorting to faith to justify this whole minute, short and bloody existence that is called being human. We're awful and we perpetrate terrible deeds upon other species and our own. It's ugly and sometimes it keeps me up at night, but I doubt that we humans, vis a vis our lack of empathy and understanding for what we consider "lesser creatures", including our own species some of whom are seen as "lesser" will have a very long run on this planet.
7 million years and counting since the first proto-humans made an appearance, and less than 12,000 years since we organized into the warmongering and resource-depleting species we've become.
We can't continue at this pace and survive as a species. We'll leave a really deep scar on the planet, given the short time we'll most likely be here, but after we are gone hopefully in the second half of the life cycle of this planet, the next 4.5 billion years, creatures will evolve who are more caring of each other and of this planet and other species and be better stewards of this amazing world that all species are lucky to share. There aren't many Earths out there, and really, this one does not belong to us humans, not by a long stretch and the planet will fight back against us in a reaction to our own carelessness.
Religion is a device that blinds the adherent to the absolute magnificent accident that is our evolution and instead of enjoying the only life that we will know puts the onus on an invisible being, giving him or her control of our fate, and seeking an immortal existence outside of our physical presence, instead of just reveling in the gloriousness of our temporary ascension to the top of the food chain, even though we've abused our power greatly.
If there was an "engineer" in charge of creation, evolution and the actions of his/her minions, I seriously doubt he or she would have allowed us to continue as a species because we are so bad at managing his/her creation.
Sorry so long, but damn, we've done a terrible job as a species, and I'm sorry but religion won't fix any of that.
Very well and beautifully stated, Anon 2:16
Delete2:16 Bravo! Well said and so true. Thanks for that one.
DeleteIf she invokes "The Devil Made Me Do It" defense, and shows contrition to her Kansas jury, I bet she gets off lightly.
ReplyDeleteAll this woman deserves is one well placed 22 cal bullet.
She's got Sarah Palin eyes
ReplyDeleteThe kid would have been better off if she decided SHE needed to go to heaven.
ReplyDeleteWhat an evil woman. I hope she gets life with no parole. She deserves it.
ReplyDeleteShe's $carah's daughter for sure. One of the offspring she had while in highschool or as a dropout. No wonder barstool sees nothing wrong with following in her footsteps.
ReplyDeleteSo "Heaven" was good enough for her child but not for her? Why is that? People like her are testing my non support for the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteI think even those of us that would like to see the death penalty deaths few and far between could agree that crimes against children committed by those having authority over those children face the death penalty in some cases such as this.
DeleteJesus, that poor baby. Burn in hell, bitch.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever felt an urge to hurt my child (or any other) like that I would slit my own throat first. What a piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteShe is a good christian mother showing common sense in dealing with her child... how dare the government interfere...
ReplyDeletethis is snark before the flames start, but trust me it will be the line of defense from the Christian right....Jesus would approve
I'm a (fledgeling) bondsman in the area where Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas meet.
ReplyDeleteReading stories like this gives me pause and makes me sit down and wonder. What will I do when I get a call like this?
Would I accept the bond? The woman needs mental help, but is jail the right place for her? The what-ifs keep me up at night.
My husband remembers his mother gathering the four kids and forcing them to their knees for hours, while she prayed for their souls. His mother disappeared for a few days after that. No one in the family ever mentions that episode, but I'm sure had his father not arrived home, someone would have been dead. As it is, my husband never sets foot in a church.
ReplyDelete