# "I know I look scary, but I won't hurt you, just please help me," she pleaded. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800 "2004-07-19T12:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/21 "2004-07-20T06:25:44Z")
> [@Leonard](#): > > From the last article a couple of posts up, > > If it makes anyone feel any better, I was also a fairly severe burn victim, and from my experience, I would guess that the children most likely were quickly rendered unconcious. It took me probably 15-20 mins. before I ever felt the pain. It’s just too much too fast and your whole body goes numb. Thank you so much for posting this, it is comforting. I hope some one their mother this. I can, intellectually at least, understand how someone can be in so much pain as to want to kill themselves, or so angry they want to kill a spouse or friend, but I cannot understand how a soul can be so blighted as to take the life of a child, let alone your own child. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/22 "2004-07-20T06:59:23Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#): > > According to the article linked in the OP, the mother of the victim wanted to press those charges, but her daughter refused to cooperate. Charges were never filed. There’s no such thing as “pressing charges”. It is solely the district attorney’s decision whether to attempt a criminal trial against a defendant. If the victim won’t cooperate and there isn’t any other evidence, the DA probably won’t proceed, but in this case there was clearly sex with a minor which resulted in children. If the mother had gone to the police Garcia would most likely have been convicted, whether or not Allen cooperated. ---
**Author:** ![Daisy\_Mae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@Daisy\_Mae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daisy_Mae)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/23 "2004-07-20T08:25:44Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Of all the ways to die or be hurt, fire is the one that fills me with the greatest horror and dread. If I was caught in a fire I honestly think I’d jump to my death from a burning building, rather than burn. I am with you. Working in trauma I can handle most anything. I can handle blood and guts all the day long but when they give us the code that fire victims are coming, my stomach rolls and I can feel my throat tighten a little. That smell is beyond description and I chew the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming sometimes. One of the first Flight for Life rescues I went on was a fire scene and I will never, ever forget how it looked, how terrible it was… I woke up screaming more than one night after that trip. No one should have to suffer like the people named in the OP. My deepest sympathies are with the family. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/24 "2004-07-20T10:51:45Z")
I hope I can ask this without sounding insensitive…this truly was a horrible tragedy and my thoughts have been with the family of the victims. What kind of injuries did Antigone have that allowed her to talk and be aware but die several hours later? The only time I’ve heard of that kind of thing is with internal bleeding (I had a friend who argued with the EMTs about going to the hospital after a car wreck. They finally convinced him to go and he died on the way there :(.) Also, how did her sister know she was going to die? It sends chills down my spine to think that she had to ask her own 18 year old sister, “Are you ready to go?” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/25 "2004-07-20T11:01:32Z")
My WAG is that it was due to the severity of her burns, and maybe internal bleeding from being shot (assuming she was). The burn damage alone is a shock to the system. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/26 "2004-07-20T15:07:10Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I hope I can ask this without sounding insensitive…this truly was a horrible tragedy and my thoughts have been with the family of the victims. > > What kind of injuries did Antigone have that allowed her to talk and be aware but die several hours later? The only time I’ve heard of that kind of thing is with internal bleeding (I had a friend who argued with the EMTs about going to the hospital after a car wreck. They finally convinced him to go and he died on the way there :(.) > > Also, how did her sister know she was going to die? It sends chills down my spine to think that she had to ask her own 18 year old sister, “Are you ready to go?” It is a horrible subject. The guy I told about was very good looking and quite vain about it. When he was in the hospital he (probably not thinking) continualy asked the nurses if his face looked ok and asked when his girlfriend was arriving, She arrived about 30 minutes after he arrived at the hospital. They told her they had knocked him out because of the pain and that he was going to die. They also told her he could be bought round “to say goodbye”. She chose no. They knew they couldn’t save him. ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/27 "2004-07-20T15:08:54Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Leonard, what you say is comforting to me. The babies didn’t suffer as much as their mother and I’m sure she was told that and was comforted. > > I can guess a tiny amount about how badly you were burned. I read an article about the Rhode Island Great White fire and remember reading a doctor saying that he’d bypass people who were screaming in agony because they at least had nerves. The people who were badly burned but didn’t seem to be in pain were actually in more immediate danger because there was more damage, deeper, through the nerves. I’m so so sorry. Well, it wasn’t quite as bad as you are probably thinking. My nerves weren’t damaged, but they were numbed well enough that had I remained on fire, I’m pretty sure I would have died before the real pain had a chance to get started. I felt nothing for probably 15 mins. or so and it was probably at least 45 mins before the feeling came back fully. The poor mother really had it bad. Since she survived 8 hours, I assume they tried to save her. The treatment of a burn is much more pain than the burn itself (the removal of the charred flesh). Maybe, if she was lucky, they realized she wouldn’t make it and spared her all that extra pain… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/28 "2004-07-20T16:38:21Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > A day earlier, Antigone “Mona” Allen had decided to give her estranged boyfriend, Genaro Remigio Garcia, one more chance. I hate to say this but the asswipe dipshit motherfucker isn’t the only one at fault here. “Give him one more chance”? What the fuck for? Did it never cross her mind that she was giving him one more chance to kill her and their kids? I just hope that others who are considering giving a similar ADM “one more chance” see this and give some serious thought to exactly what that entails. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/29 "2004-07-20T17:04:57Z")
Some people are just ignorant. People are ignorant of the facts and statistics that abusive partners will escalate; that if he hits you he will probably end up hitting the kids, too; that in order for abusers to change, even if they say they want to, they will need more intensive therapy and support than a girlfriend can provide. They are also ignorant in the sense that they cling to the notion that just because someone spawned a child, they have a “right” to that child. And that an abusive, two-parent home is “better” than a peaceful single-parent home. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800/30 "2004-07-20T17:44:50Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#): > > There’s no such thing as “pressing charges”. It is solely the district attorney’s decision whether to attempt a criminal trial against a defendant. If the victim won’t cooperate and there isn’t any other evidence, the DA probably won’t proceed, but in this case there was clearly sex with a minor which resulted in children. If the mother had gone to the police Garcia would most likely have been convicted, whether or not Allen cooperated. Note my phrasing. It appears from the initially-linked article that “charges were never filed” because the mother never went to the police. Her reasoning for this decision was lack of cooperation from her daughter, but it was her decision on whether to make the initial report. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-i-look-scary-but-i-wont-hurt-you-just-please-help-me-she-pleaded/255800.md?page=1)