Veronica

A New York mom is accused of killing her daughter by feeding the little girl peanut M&Ms -- which she was severely allergic to, cops said.

Veronica Cirella, 31, of Plainview, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in the death of her 8-year-old daughter Julie, who was found dead in her home on July 23 last year, CBS reported. The little girl, who had cerebral palsy, was found just hours before she was to be a flower girl in a cousin's wedding.

Cops found Cirella lying on the floor near her daughter's body. She had allegedly tried to kill herself with a cocktail of insulin injections and painkillers, and then attempted to strangle herself with an electrical cord.  She left a suicide note detailing the events leading up to her daughter's death.

"I had to give her a better life, which was to give her back to heaven," Cirella allegedly wrote. "She does not deserve to be in pain whatsoever. I don't mind going to hell because I took my life to give her a better life, which is in heaven where she can be free."

Cirella gave the girl the M&Ms as a treat for agreeing to participate in the wedding. Cops said that she knew her daughter was allergic to peanuts, and claims that she gave the girl a dose of Benadryl in order to counteract any allergic reactions before Cirella went to sleep.  Cirella faces a life sentence for the alleged murder.

Jacqueline Stout

Jacqueline Stout of Canton, Ohio didn’t want to die alone when she killed herself, so she drugged her two children, possibly with Kool-Aid laced with prescription pills, authorities say.  Stout and the children survived, and police have charged the 24-year-old mother with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of child endangering.

Stout sent her husband a text message stating that she was suicidal and had just tried to kill his children. He didn’t get the message right away, and Stout followed with a phone call a minute later stating that she had given the children a lot of medication.

Adam Stout drove to his wife’s home and called 911. The children were sleeping and Jacqueline Stout was on a couch with a knife in her hand and had been cutting her arm, the filing said. All three were lethargic.

The 6-year-old boy said his mother had given him “more than four” pills that were “red, green and blue,” and had crushed the pills and put them into his Kool-Aid, according to the court filing.  The 4-year-old girl also reported drinking Kool-Aid given by her mother.

Jacqueline Stout told investigators that she got into an argument with her husband, who told her "that he was leaving and she shouldn’t ever call him again."

Stout said she wanted to kill the children so that they could ‘go with her’ when she died.

The main concerns wereAdam Stout’s “severe mental health issues,” his attempt to kill himself with prescription medication in 2009 and concerns about violence in the home. The agency placed the children with relatives, but returned them to Jacqueline Stout in May on the condition that the family remain under the protective supervision of Job and Family Services. Adam Stout was no longer living in the home.

A  psychological evaluation revealed no concerns about Jacqueline Stout’s mental health, and didn’t indicate that she was having thoughts of suicide.

http://www.cantonrep.com/x898075904/Mom-who-drugged-kids-avoids-prison

Darlie Routier

Convicted of the murder of her 5 year old son Damon inside the suburban family's home.  Damon and his 6 year old brother Devon were stabbed to death while they slept with their mother in the down stairs family room of their Rowlett home.  Routier's husband Darin, and infnt son Drake, slept through the attack in the upstairs bedrooms and were not harmed.  Routier who also suffered stab wounds that police claimed were self-inflicted, testified that she too slept through the attack on her and her children and awoke only to see the back of the man fleeing the residence.  Prosecution argued Routier killed her children because the children interfered with the lifestyle she wanted to live.  She was arrested and charged with the murders after making inconsistent statements to the police.

http://murderpedia.org/female.Q/index.Q.htm

Otty

A San Antonio woman who told authorities the devil made her mutilate and dismember her newborn was found not guilty by reason of insanity Thursday, in a deal that sends her to a state mental institution rather than to face a trial and possible prison sentence.

Scott Wesley Buchholz-Sanchez was three weeks old when authorities who received a frantic 911 call from the boy's aunt arrived to find his mutilated body, and Sanchez wailing the devil made her do it. On the call, Sanchez can be heard screaming, "I didn't mean to do it! He told me to!"

Sanchez was charged with capital murder and was found competent to stand trial. But  after three examinations by separate doctors it was determined she was legally insane when she killed her son, the court had no choice but to accept the plea.

Sanchez had sought treatment before killing her son and did not receive the care she needed.  

Sanchez periodically sought treatment for mental illness before her son was born and even spent a few hours in an emergency room after the birth because she was hearing voices less than a week before the attack.   Sanchez had been prescribed the antidepressant citalopram after giving birth but had only taken it the day before killing her son. The drugs do not take effect for a few weeks.

An estimated 1,000 women are afflicted with postpartum psychosis. Women with the diagnosis can suffer dangerous delusions and desires to hurt their children, unlike postpartum depression, which occurs in as many as one in five new mothers.

Andrea Yates, the suburban Houston mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001, and Dena Schlosser, who cut off her baby's arms in 2004 both suffered from the psychosis.

Yates was sentenced to life in prison before her case was overturned on appeal, after which she was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2006 and sent to a state hospital.

http://murderpedia.org/female.S/s/sanchez-otty.htm