# Two Kids Dead, But Mom's Hair Sure Looks Nice **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 1, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850 "2002-07-01T16:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/1 "2002-07-01T16:29:20Z")
[url=http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/kids1\_20020701.htm]Story is Here[/url This article made me weep for these children. This woman is indicative of **everything** that is wrong with allowing sick, lazy, self-absorbed people to reproduce indiscriminately. She did not deserve those kids, and they most certainly did not deserve her. How could you leave small children in a hot car? How could you return and find them dead by your negligence, and then drive around with their corpses while you formulate a paper-thin “I was abducted and raped” alibi? How could you sit getting your hair done while you KNEW they were trapped in a fucking oven?! > [@](#): > > Desperate for a breath of air before they died, they left mouth prints on the inside glass of the car. Did you hear that? That small shatter? That was my heart, bitch. I am not one to normally participate in the “lets decapitate them and feed them to the wolves” threads, but I can’t think of _anything_ that would come close to approaching justice for these babies. Perhaps shaving the evil beast’s head and pouring acid over it, so that she’ll walk around bald and disfigured until the day she dies. Maybe while we’re at it we can tattoo “I brought my children excruciating death” on her over-hanging forehead so that everyone who comes into contact with her can spit in her face before crossing the street to flee her hideousness. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m so so sorry for those children—I wish someone had seen them trapped in that car, I wish they had managed to open a door, I wish they’d been born to a woman with a heart, I wish lynch-mobs were still in vogue. Really, I know this is weak but I’m absolutely sickened. I want to hug my son to my chest and curl into a ball just thinking about it. Those poor babies. Rest in peace Adonnis and Acacia, may the next life treat you better than this one did. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/2 "2002-07-01T16:45:57Z")
I heard about this last night on the news. Utterly sickening. > [@](#): > > This woman is indicative of everything that is wrong with allowing sick, lazy, self-absorbed people to reproduce indiscriminately. Damn straight. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/3 "2002-07-01T16:48:41Z")
Jesus—the fact that she named the kids Adonnis and Acacia should have been Tip One that the hospital never should have sent them home with her! ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/4 "2002-07-01T16:59:43Z")
She was in the salon for three hours (!?!?!?) while her kids were in a hot car with the windows rolled up. I don’t even leave my CDs in a hot car for that long, let alone human beings. She’s going to have the best looking mug shot ever. Can’t wait to see it on _Smoking Gun._ ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/5 "2002-07-01T16:59:43Z")
I can’t even read the story. Your summary made me cry. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Belowjob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/6 "2002-07-01T17:04:54Z")
The last time we had fun like this on a national scale was the Susan Smith case. Similar in some respects. A young single mother murders her children and makes up a story to cover it up. Susie was little more evil, killing her children actively rather than passively. Susie would get a first class berth on the express train to hell, and this lady only second class. When we look into the backgrounds of people who do things like this, we usually find that they are sociopaths, people who lack consciences. The developmental phase where most of us develop a sense of shame and a capacity for guilt, as well as the ability to form deep emotional ties (the kind that cause some parents to give their lives to save their children) simply didn’t happen with these folks. Due either to childhood abuse or neglect, or some sort of organic brain disorder, these folks have no capacity for love, guilt, or shame. If they’re bright, they can fake it fairly well, but in the long run they usually get caught. While condeming her in the harshest way makes us feel good, I’m sure she has no idea why we’re so angry with her. I’m sure she has no capacity to grasp just how awful a thing she’s done. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/7 "2002-07-01T17:07:23Z")
[CNN’s link on the story](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/01/children.left.ap/index.html). My question on this is the charge of first-degree murder. To my understanding, that requires premeditation – she had to knowingly leave her children in the car with the _intent_ of killing them. Am I misunderstanding this, and first-degree murder is applicable in a situation where the defendent may not have intended to commit murder, but should have known that her actions would result in death? That is, can negligence result in a legitimate first-degree murder charge? I’m thinking of the abstracts in this case, as I don’t want to dwell too much on the specifics. It’s too heartrending. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/8 "2002-07-01T17:15:31Z")
lno, from what I’ve seen, the first degree murder charge stems from the fact that there’s some evidence that she left them in the car as a “punishment.” They misbehaved, so they were told that they couldn’t go with her into the hair salon. Because she did it with the intent of being punitive, that qualifies as premeditation of harm, hence premeditation of their death. No matter what, there isn’t a proper punishment for this woman save being locked into a car and dying as her body dessicate and her brain literally fries, **after** she spends the next fifty years walking around with Belladonna’s acid and tattoo punishment first. Those poor, beautiful little lambs. I cannot fathom a human being so inured to another’s suffering that they could allow this to happen to their own children. It’s beyond comprehension, even sociopathy can’t explain this away. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/9 "2002-07-01T17:20:58Z")
Thanks for the clarification, **tlw**. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/10 "2002-07-01T17:25:12Z")
fuck. fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKK!!! I don’t feel better. Crucify the bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/11 "2002-07-01T17:26:06Z")
I can’t read the story. Just reading the posts have made me sad enough. This is so heartbreaking. I’m sorry I read this, because I’ll be thinking about these two poor children and the horror they must have faced. And I definitely don’t want to know about any, “I was abused as a child… My mother didn’t love me enough…I never got the pony I wanted since I was 5…” crap either. There is no excuse at all for what this woman did and if she is in any way human, I don’t understand why she didn’t kill herself out of grief. Because if I were ever responsible for something like that, I probably would. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/12 "2002-07-01T17:30:26Z")
Gah! Of course I fuck up the link. [Here it is again](http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/kids1_20020701.htm). This article, which was in the Free Press, is actually pretty graphic. If you just want the cut and dried story without the nightmares, I’d suggest **Ino** ’s link. **Belowjob** –if she hadn’t realized that what she’d done was wrong, she wouldn’t have driven around for three hours trying to think up an excuse. She might not grasp our horror, but she certainly grasped our laws. In my book–and the courts–that’s enough, thank god. And I wondered about the first degree charge as well **Ino** , the only thing I can think of is that since there has been a rash of these kinds of deaths in Detroit lately (nearly a dozen just this year, IIRC) they’re hoping to prove that she had full knowledge that her actions would kill those children. When she closed that car door behind her and walked away without her children, she was premeditating their murder. Ok, on preview–I see **tlw** beat me to it, and with a better answer to boot. Thanks! bella ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/13 "2002-07-01T17:32:32Z")
Isn’t child endangerment a felony and, given the ages of the children she left in the car, leaving a child of that age in those circumstances considered child endangerment, thus making the resulting death what’s sometimes referred to as “felony homicide” (a death resulting from the commission of another felony)? ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/14 "2002-07-01T17:52:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lno \* > \*\*[CNN’s link on the story](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/01/children.left.ap/index.html). > > My question on this is the charge of first-degree murder. To my understanding, that requires premeditation – she had to knowingly leave her children in the car with the _intent_ of killing them. Am I misunderstanding this, and first-degree murder is applicable in a situation where the defendent may not have intended to commit murder, but should have known that her actions would result in death? > > That is, can negligence result in a legitimate first-degree murder charge? > > I’m thinking of the abstracts in this case, as I don’t want to dwell too much on the specifics. It’s too heartrending. \*\* Here’s the key point of the Michigan statute: > [@](#): > > Sec. 316. (1) A person who commits any of the following is guilty of first degree murder and shall be punished by imprisonment for life: [snip] > (b) Murder committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, criminal sexual conduct in the first, second, or third degree, **child abuse in the first degree** , a major controlled substance offense, robbery, carjacking, breaking and entering of a dwelling, home invasion in the first or second degree, larceny of any kind, extortion, or kidnapping. > > Sec. 163(b). (2) A person is guilty of **child abuse in the first degree** if the person knowingly or intentionally causes serious physical or serious mental harm to a child. Child abuse in the first degree is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years. (emphasis mine) There may be a dispute over whether the defendant’s actions were “knowingly” causing harm to the child. Michigan does not appear to have a statutory definition of the term (I’m not a Michigan lawyer so there may be one I missed). The New York Penal Law says: > [@](#): > > Sec. 15.05.2. “Knowingly.” A person acts knowingly with respect to conduct or to > a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware > that his conduct is of such nature **or that such circumstance exists**. (emphasis mine) If Michigan uses a similar definition, it might be enough simply to show that she put the children in a sealed car in hot weather for hours - not that she would necessarily know the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/15 "2002-07-01T18:07:45Z")
Oh shit. You need a license to fish…but any idiot can be a parent.\* \*please don’t start with the whole “some people are incapable of having kids” thing. You guys know exactly what I mean, and this isn’t the place for that argument. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/16 "2002-07-01T18:09:20Z")
Couldn’t go to the links and could barely read other posts. The premeditation thing caught my eye though. Sounds like they might get that on her but even though they don’t have a rock solid “she thought about it first” that is the first place to start and then go down from there of course. Is there a death penalty where this happened? In a way I hope not so that she can sit in a little cell and be haunted by this for the rest of her miserable life while she dies even more slowly sufficating in a small confined space of her own making. Can they still do gas chamber? The thought of her sitting in a chair in a small room gasping, crying and begging for a breath of fresh air while the gas surrounds her and she has to sit with terror in her eyes as it creeps closer and closer. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/17 "2002-07-01T18:11:12Z")
This sentence: > [@](#): > > Desperate for a breath of air before they died, they left mouth prints on the inside glass of the car. has left me unable to work because I’m crying… ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/18 "2002-07-01T18:26:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kricket \* > **Is there a death penalty where this happened? In a way I hope not so that she can sit in a little cell and be haunted by this for the rest of her miserable life while she dies even more slowly sufficating in a small confined space of her own making.** Nope. Michigan does not use capital punishment (and never has). They do, however, have life in prison with no possibility of parole (in many states, like Texas, “life in prison” actually means 40 years before parole eligibility). And I agree, I hope she rots in a cell until they carry her out on a stretcher in 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/19 "2002-07-01T18:41:05Z")
Well, luckily, since she’s obviously guilty, the state of Michigan can dispense with the niceties of a trial and proceed directly to the disemboweling. The only question I have is where was her car parked? If it was outside the salon, I can’t believe that in three hours nobody noticed two suffering children and tried to find out whose car it was or to break a window. Are people that afraid of being sued these days? I have little cards that I leave on people’s windshields when they have pets locked in cars on hot days. If I saw a _child_ locked in a car, I’d be on my cell calling 911 in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850/20 "2002-07-01T18:42:14Z")
I think that we need to remember that some people are just plain stupid. She probably didn’t think that the heat in the car (from the greenhouse effect) would kill the kids. Especially since she lives in Michigan, where it usually doesn’t get very hot. She probably didn’t even realize how long she was in the hairdresser’s. The fact that she was in the hairdresser’s pretty much proves that she didn’t kill them intentionally. I can’t see a murderer taking a chance on getting caught this way. It’s just that her hair was more important than her kids. Let’s face it, there are lots of people in our society like this. She is just one of the few that will pay for being so stupid and so selfish. And while the thought of the 2 kids breaks my heart, we can’t let our own emotions overshadow the fact that this was an accident. It was an accident based on stupidity and selfishness, but it was an accident. But Tarajee Maynor is not even close to being in the same league as Susan Smith. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-kids-dead-but-moms-hair-sure-looks-nice/116850.md?page=2)