Another tragedy for the "WTF?" files

[Caliga]

Psychological episode?

I mean something more like she was delusional or hallucinating.

[Martinus]

So, people flashed their lights and honked at her, and she just kept driving?

Was she trying to commit suicide?

Given the details we know, I don't think that's possible.  I think she must have been having some sort of a psychological episode but didn't intend for this to happen.

Psychological episode?
Like what?

Being depressed because her husband left her with two kids?

By the way, there is no mention of her husband.
Who's the guy?
Did he die in Iraq?
That would change everything.

Good that you are infertile, so your wife doesn't drive your kids off the cliff when you finally get shot in Iraq.

[MadBurgerMaker]

<baby killing>

Yeah, I saw this yesterday morning/Sunday night.  Absolutely fucking nuts.  Apparently, at least some of the SAPD guys who went in there and saw all of it are, understandably, pretty messed up by the whole thing.

Edit:

While the San Antonio Police Department works to understand why a 33-year-old woman would decapitate and mutilate her 4-week-old baby Sunday, police officers are struggling to cope with horrific images they witnessed at the crime scene.

"I would say that it's a very, very sad day in San Antonio given the atrocity of this incident," Chief William McManus said Monday morning. "I would say it's a very, very sad day in the Police Department among those officers who had to investigate this."

The chief said the Police Department has provided counseling services for some of the officers who witnessed the crime scene.

"It just goes to the atrocity and the unspeakable tragedy of this event," he said.

McManus said Otty Sanchez remained hospitalized Monday under 24-hour watch at University Hospital with multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, including a cut to her throat. The wounds aren't believed to be life threatening, he said.

Sanchez was charged by proxy late Sunday with capital murder. Bond was set at $1 million.

"When police arrived at the scene she was hysterical screaming, 'I killed my baby. I killed my baby,'" McManus said.

Police said Sanchez also told them that she was "hearing voices" and that the devil made her kill Scott Wesley Buchholtz Sanchez, to whom she gave birth on June 30.

McManus confirmed that Sanchez confessed to ingesting parts of the child's body. Police said the baby's brain, nose and toes were among the parts eaten.

"The mother mutilated the body," the chief said. "She ate portions of it in addition to mutilation. Apparently, she spent a fair amount of time doing it. There were body parts missing that she had ingested. She had opened up the child's head and, you know, it's too heinous for even me to describe it any further than I just have."

Police are looking at Sanchez's past to try to piece together the events leading up to the slaying. Detectives also have confirmed that she had a history of mental health problems, but police have not yet elaborated.

"We're really just trying to understand what would motivate someone to do something like this," said Lt. Al Trevino.

The brutal crime unfolded in a single-story home in the 300 block of Wayside Drive, where police were called just before 5 a.m. According to police, Sanchez lives in the North Side home with her sister and the sister's two children, and Sanchez's mother stays in a small, separate structure behind the house.

Police spokesman Joe Rios said Sanchez used a steak knife to repeatedly stab the baby, then decapitate and mutilate him, Rios said. A police source said the baby also was skinned and gutted.

Neighbor Elaine Colchin said that just months ago, she was cleaning out her garage when Sanchez's mother stopped by and asked for a discarded baby bed.

"I gave it to her, and she was so happy, she was going to paint it for her new grandson," Colchin said. "It was a family bed — my daughter, son and husband all used it; now it turned out to be a nightmare."

It was Sanchez's mother who called police Sunday. She told them her daughter woke her up around 4:30 a.m. She said she saw her daughter sitting with the boy. He had been decapitated, a police report said. Sanchez's mother took the baby, put him on a bed and called police, according to the report.

When police arrived, Sanchez was sitting on a couch, yelling, "I killed my baby. I want to die," the report said.

An officer found the child's body lying in blood on a bed next to the knife, believed to be the weapon used in the killing, and two swords, which Rios said were not involved in the death. Authorities were seen carrying two bags out of the home, and officials on the scene confirmed that they contained the baby's remains.

Colchin was surprised to hear that Sanchez, who brought her baby across the street for a visit last week, is a suspect in the infant's death, though she admits Sanchez sometimes appeared a bit odd.

"She was never aggressive; always sweet," Colchin said. "She did seem to be living in a world of her own, but she must have been deranged. I feel so sorry for that baby, the little angel."

Rios said Sanchez did not have a criminal history related to mental illness, but police will investigate that further, and the district attorney's office will handle how Sanchez's mental state affected her actions.

There was one police report on file, from May 2008, when Sanchez's mother called police to report that Sanchez went to Austin and didn't return. In the report, the mother told police she believed that Sanchez went to Austin to use drugs and that Sanchez was not suffering from mental issues.

The two children of Sanchez's sister were home at the time of the baby's death and were not injured.

Rios said initial information showed that the baby was Sanchez's only child. The baby's father, who did not live with Sanchez, was notified.

The baby's paternal grandmother, Kathleen Buchholz, said was unaware that Sanchez suffered from any mental illness. She said she's conflicted now about what should happen with Sanchez.

"I haven't worked that out yet," she said. "I have mixed emotions... I love her. She was like a daughter. I don't want her out at this point but that may change."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/51796152.html

[Caliga]

I almost think this woman should be euthanized as a mercy killing.  What the hell is she going to do with herself after this?

[Valmy]

Psychological episode?
Like what?

Being depressed because her husband left her with two kids?

By the way, there is no mention of her husband.
Who's the guy?
Did he die in Iraq?
That would change everything.

....

Let's say you had some children Siege...lets say your wife dies in childbirth...are you then going to be justified in eating the other children?

Rios said initial information showed that the baby was Sanchez's only child. The baby's father, who did not live with Sanchez, was notified.

Considering the crazy woman who had been to a mental institution got custody he must be a piece of work.

I am always a little annoyed that when a woman kills her children, the perception seems to be she was a victim or deranged or just very very sad.  Awww poor murderer.  If a man killed his children no matter what the circumstances the lethal injection would be awaiting.  That one woman who killed what a couple years ago?  Six of her children?  And she didn't get the DP because she was mentally ill poor baby.

[Caliga]

Val, Seige's response was to me about the driver who killed 8 people in New York.  I can see how this has become confusing as we're now simultaneously discussing two crazy moms here.

[Malthus]

Considering the crazy woman who had been to a mental institution got custody he must be a piece of work.

I am always a little annoyed that when a woman kills her children, the perception seems to be she was a victim or deranged or just very very sad.  Awww poor murderer.  If a man killed his children no matter what the circumstances the lethal injection would be awaiting.  That one woman who killed what a couple years ago?  Six of her children?  And she didn't get the DP because she was mentally ill poor baby.

I suspect at least part of it is that moms (but not dads) may possibly suffer from post-partum psychosis in rare (but not *that* rare) cases, in addition to post-partum depression. This can affect women without any history of mental illness.

http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-86-87-88

Postpartum depression is more debilitating than the "blues." Women with this condition suffer despondency, tearfulness, feelings of inadequacy, guilt, anxiety, irritability and fatigue. Physical symptoms include headaches, numbness, chest pain and hyperventilation. A woman with postpartum depression may regard her child with ambivalence, negativity or disinterest. An adverse effect on the bonding between mother and child may result. Because this syndrome is still poorly defined and under studied, it tends to be under reported. Estimates of its occurrence range from 3% to 20% of births. The depression can begin at any time between delivery and 6 months post-birth, and may last up to several months or even a year.

Postpartum psychosis is a relatively rare disorder. The symptoms include extreme confusion, fatigue, agitation, alterations in mood, feelings of hopelessness and shame, hallucinations and rapid speech or mania. Studies indicate that it affects only one in 1000 births.

One annoying side effect is that women who just had a baby tend to be treated like possible mental patients by the healthcare system.

This happened to my wife when she had Carl. She did *not* have post partum depression (I would know), but she was *seriously* pissed off by her treatment by the doc (he was a pompous ass) and the nursing staff (didn't answer beeper for hours - she was left to take care of a newborn by herself when I wasn't there, with little help from them, even though she could barely move - her recent C-section having been infected by said pompous ass surgeon, something he refused for the longest time to acknowledge - we had to get a second opinion & some emergency corrective surgery).

When she complained (admittedly not in the most temperate of tones), instead of correcting their errors they sent a social worker to evaluate her sanity. 

I had to basically scare them into providing a decent level of service, and even then once the process was started we were haunted by that damn social worker for a week. The whole thing was a horrible nightmare.

(Lest you imagine this was because of socialized medicine, my brother's experience in the US was even worse, and he was paying big bucks for it - in his case, incompetent nurses nearly killed the kid. )

[Caliga]

The American Way(TM) is to blow your experience all out of proportion for political purposes, and ignore completely your brother's experience (or blame him and say it's because he is stupid). 

[Gambrinus]

I almost think this woman should be euthanized as a mercy killing.  What the hell is she going to do with herself after this?

Become Emperor of Rome?

[Valmy]

Become Emperor of Rome?

He was going to become a more powerful god than she was!

[Caliga]

Become Emperor of Rome?

[dps]

So, people flashed their lights and honked at her, and she just kept driving?

Was she trying to commit suicide?

Given the details we know, I don't think that's possible.  I think she must have been having some sort of a psychological episode but didn't intend for this to happen.

Psychological episode?
Like what?

Being depressed because her husband left her with two kids?

By the way, there is no mention of her husband.
Who's the guy?
Did he die in Iraq?
That would change everything.

If you follow the link in the story Cal posted, there's a bit more info.  The husband is still alive and apparantly they were still married and lived together;  my asumption is that she called her brother instead of her husband because her husband was at work and her brother wasn't and/or because she had her brother's kids with her.  Why she then didn't do as her brother advised and pull over and wait for him, well, who knows.

Also, I don't think it was a psychological problem.  She told her brother that she felt sick and disoriented.  That could be a lot of things:  a stroke, high blood sugar, food poisoning, etc., but it suggests that the problem was physical.

[Caliga]

The thought has crossed my mind that maybe when she called her brother her brother instead said "don't be a pussy and come on home... you don't need me to come pick you up" ... obviously if he had admitted that he'd said that he would risk demonization by the media, which given all the death he has to deal with right now would make everything ten times worse.

It's odd to me that she'd call him and say "hey, I'm all fucked up" and then he'd reply "I'll come get you!" and then she'd reply with something like "LOL no I am: fine!" 

[DGuller]

The thought has crossed my mind that maybe when she called her brother her brother instead said "don't be a pussy and come on home... you don't need me to come pick you up" ... obviously if he had admitted that he'd said that he would risk demonization by the media, which given all the death he has to deal with right now would make everything ten times worse.

It's odd to me that she'd call him and say "hey, I'm all fucked up" and then he'd reply "I'll come get you!" and then she'd reply with something like "LOL no I am: fine!" 

That thought crossed my mind as well.  Something feels strange about it, like the two hour window between the call and the crash.

[Caliga]

Somebody mentioned diabetic shock as a possibility earlier, and that makes alot of sense to me.

I had a former employee who had Type II Diabetes and was on metformin for it, and kept some kind of injector thingy around for it too.  One time she went into sugar shock and she started acting very oddly.  She was mumbling something incoherent (like what a religious wacko would say is "language of the Holy Ghost", I guess) and she kept getting up from her desk, looking around blankly, and sitting back down.  It look us like 30 seconds to remember what she'd told us about her diabetes and one of my other employees gave her candy or something--which she had to almost force-feed her--and then she kind of 'snapped out of it' but seemed to have no memory of the episode.  Still, she believed us and then self-injected something and we then sent her home.