Mother Drowns Children, One Lives To Tell
When the case of Susan Smith drowning her children came to light, society hoped and prayed that a monster like that would never again rear her ugly head. Sadly, it has happened again. This time, however, there is a ten year old boy alive to tell a tale of sheer horror and no one to punish.
In a small city 70 miles north of Manhattan, police received a domestic disturbance call from a woman on Tuesday. Police responded, but not before LaShanda Armstrong, 25, piled her four children into a minivan and drove down to the river bank, six blocks away. We’d like to think that she stopped at the river bank, like most parents would, to calm down, take a minute and stand by the shore of the river. But LaShanda did not stop. The mother drove her minivan, with her children still inside, straight off the dock into the Hudson River.
Before the van sank, La’Shaun, ten years old, escaped through an open window. He swam to shore and ran to a nearby fire station. An unidentified woman saw the boy and accompanied him to the fire station.
As police showed up to the empty residence for the domestic disturbance call, 10 year old La’Shaun walked into the fire station. According to the Los Angeles Times, Fire Chief Michael Vatter and Police Chief Michael Ferrera said that La’Shaun managed to open a power window before the van sank.
Police found the van and the bodies of the woman and children in roughly eight feet of water. The dock is next to a local restaurant called Gully’s, which is closed for renovations.
Jim Simeon, a downstairs neighbor of the victims was quoted by the Times Herald-Record newspaper as saying he often heard the children playing, but never fighting.
This tragedy leaves us to ponder many questions. What went wrong? Why didn’t the mother go for help? Why didn’t the mother take a break?
The biggest thought on all of our minds, however, is what will become of the ten year old boy who endured the suicide of his mother and subsequent murder of his siblings.
Image: RoadRunner via Getty Images
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