# Four-Year-Old Beaten to Death in TX **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972 "2003-05-23T04:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/1 "2003-05-23T04:25:46Z")
I read an article from the Associated Press that can be read [here.](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030520/ap_on_re_us/beaten_child_4) The article states that a woman was taking care of her three grandchildren while their mother was serving in Iraq. The grandmother beat youngest of the children, a four-year-old girl, to death with a belt and an extension cord for not doing her homework. Why was a four-year-old doing homework, you might ask? The girl saw her siblings doing homework and wanted to do some, so the grandmother made up an assignment. And then she beat the little girl to death for not doing the play homework. I hadn’t expected to open a Pit thread this early in my SDMB career, but this just cried out to be Pitted. There is no, repeat, NO excuse for what that woman did. It was a heinous act. And for it to be done for such a reason boggles the mind. Of course, there is never a good reason for perpetrating a crime like that, but the excuse that piece of hog scrotum gave made my blood boil. That loathesome, wretched pile of human bile and waste saw fit to end a little life over imaginary homework. I just…I don’t know. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/2 "2003-05-23T04:29:10Z")
… and that’s the last the wicked old grandmother ever saw of any of her grandchildren ever, ever, ever again. Evil whore! ---
**Author:** ![hyperjes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@hyperjes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyperjes)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/3 "2003-05-23T04:30:19Z")
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I hope she fries. ☹ ☹ ☹ ☹ ☹ Poor little girl. Poor mother. Can you imagine? Coming home from a war to THAT?! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/4 "2003-05-23T04:30:30Z")
PS: You’re giving hog scrotum a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/5 "2003-05-23T04:30:38Z")
Holy fucking crap! Excuse the French but that just makes me sick. I’m normally against the death penalty, but in this case… No, death is too good for her. Life in prison with NO possibility of EVER getting out. Yeah, that’s the ticket for this psycho. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/6 "2003-05-23T04:31:29Z")
_soft crying_ The world seems to have gone insane! ☹ I pray the other children can pull through this ok. I hope they get counseling, they’ll most likely need it. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/7 "2003-05-23T06:48:46Z")
I would kill that fucking bitch with my bare hands. ---
**Author:** ![theendisnear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@theendisnear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theendisnear)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/8 "2003-05-23T06:56:27Z")
Why use your bare hands, i know i gotta have a nice hard extension cord around here somewhere to use on the bitch. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/9 "2003-05-23T06:56:55Z")
There’s something not quite right with this story. > [@](#): > > Child Protective Services took custody of the other children, who are now living in a foster home . Why isn’t the mum caring for the kids now that she is home from service? Were the kids being abused by grandma _before_ mum went o/s perhaps with her knowledge? It seems to me that someone in the armed forces would need live-in childcare even while they are based at home…had grandma been living with them and belting into the kids for quite some time? Maybe mum is being seen as partly culpable here too. This is just too sad. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/10 "2003-05-23T07:16:32Z")
I’m losing faith in humanity. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/11 "2003-05-23T07:35:10Z")
**kambuckta** , the article states that the mother just returned from Iraq over the weekend, (so five to six days ago, the child’s death was ten days ago) but it doesn’t say that her unit is not still considered to be on active duty. Once her unit has stood down, (or she’s been released on a familial hardship leave, which I’d imagine must be forthcoming) I don’t see anything in the article to suggest that she won’t be able to be reunited with her remaining children. Meanwhile, may I just say that this grandmother is the kind of person for whom the deepest, hottest pit of hell is too good? ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/12 "2003-05-23T07:39:16Z")
Jezus We need to completely reformat the system. ---
**Author:** ![Meka\_Leka\_Hi\_Meka\_Hiney\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Meka\_Leka\_Hi\_Meka\_Hiney\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meka_Leka_Hi_Meka_Hiney_Ho)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/13 "2003-05-23T08:26:39Z")
I get that sometimes. Just try to remember how much worse things must have been before stuff like this was available for public scrutiny. Humanity has been acting this way for thousands of years. The only difference is that now we hear about it, whereas a couple hundred years ago the little one would’ve been buried in the backyard and nobody would have been the wiser. I like to think we’re making progress. It’s encouraging that this is big news. That said, the grandmother’s only 56. Death is probably a lot farther away than she’d like. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/14 "2003-05-23T09:33:39Z")
Boy, just imagine how harsh the punishment would have been if the girl shirked from doing her REAL homework… I think judges should be allowed to use their gavel on people that they sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/15 "2003-05-23T11:22:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hyperjes \* > \*\*:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: > > I hope she fries. > \*\* It’s Texas. You’ll get your wish. Old Sparky is just waiting for the Courts to do the paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/16 "2003-05-23T11:28:20Z")
That grandma has GOT to have some mental problems… its not easy to kill people by whipping them. I mean, you have to be really, really, willing to tear them up. I saw this line: > [@](#): > > Chadwick told the court that Destiny’s death was ruled a homicide due to blunt force trauma, based on information he obtained for the Army Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Hood. That is sick. She had to beat this girl to death for a long time to make this happen. The G-ma has to be insane, she _has_ to be. Actually, I really feel sorry for her lawyer, too. That guy’s got to do a nigh-impossible job. The odds are goign to be stacked against him from day 1. Granted, that’s not really a bad thing in this case, but there’s no way he’s gonna win this one straight. Probably advise her to settle. For those of you with no sympathy for him, its something akin to being handed a broken pile of old computer chips and being ordered to make a brand new Dell PC. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/17 "2003-05-23T15:45:45Z")
We don’t use Old Sparky anymore. She’ll get a painless death by lethal injection. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/18 "2003-05-23T15:50:02Z")
Shudder. And to add insult to injury, it’s possible that the child’s mom could be discharged from service because of this incident. I know it can happen if a spouse is abusing the children in a household. That poor child…and her siblings, and her mother…and I even feel sorry for the woman who did this. Her guilt will be a terrible punishment in and of itself. Lord, if I did something like that I think I’d kill myself. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/19 "2003-05-23T16:04:27Z")
_sigh_ well, this has wrecked what was a pretty good day for me. i just hope that ol’ grandma gets what’s coming to her. don’t know how old she is, but i’m hoping that she won’t be able to plead ‘health reasons’ to get out of being tossed into the deepest, darkest hole they can find. i’m not an advocate of the death penalty, but sometimes, my resolve is sorely tested. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972/20 "2003-05-23T18:58:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I would kill that fucking bitch with my bare hands. I’d help. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-year-old-beaten-to-death-in-tx/176972.md?page=2)