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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Every Divorced Parent’s Nightmare: Arizona Mother Admits Killing Daughter, Poisoning Other Kids in Custody Dispute



CNN reports that Connie Villa, 35, has admitted to suffocating her daughter to death, and trying to kill her three other children by giving them prescription narcotics, and also stabbing her ex-husband, all in a bid to keep the kids from being put in her ex-husband’s custody.  It is every divorced parent’s worst nightmare. 

Officers were alerted to the homicidal debacle by the ex-husband who was driving himself to the emergency room after being stabbed.  When officers arrived at the home, they found Villa with stab wounds and a knife to her chest. They found the body of her daughter, in the bathroom, who had apparently been suffocated.  The younger children, ages 3, 5, and 8 said they had been given pills (police found trace amounts of opiates in their systems), but the older daughter wouldn’t take the pills so was suffocated.

CNN reports that Connie Villa faces one count of first degree murder in the death of her daughter. She is also being charged with four counts of attempted murder of her ex-husband and her three surviving children, ages 3, 5 and 8.

There is obviously a backstory that is not being told in this story.  It may have to do with Connie Villa’s mental health, but there is no mention of a mental examination in jail or a prior history of mental health problems.   There were no allegations of mistreatment by the ex-husband of the children listed in the CNN story to justify or even give hint to such a depraved act being mis-considered a sacrifice for the children (and I’m not insinuating that such a history exists).  There just seems to be nothing to justify or explain the mother’s actions aside from homicidal jealousy, which it may have been.   

If that's what it was, it is every divorced parent’s worst nightmare.

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