According to Cafemom, there's some sad news out of San Diego. A mother has been sentenced to 15 years for drowning her autistic son in the family bathtub.
Patricia Corby said she was planning to commit suicide after killing 4-year-old son Daniel. Instead she drove to a police station and turned herself in for what prosecutors would eventually term second-degree murder.
Now she's headed for prison and no one, not even Corby's own family, seems to want to have anything to do with her. The boy's father told her he hates her with all his "heart and soul." An aunt called Corby "evil."
Their reactions aren't uncommon. Sometimes families rally around their loved one, loving the sinner while hating the sin. Others strike out in anger, in hatred.
Corby was the primary caregiver for her son who had reportedly been making developmental strides since his autism diagnosis, but not enough for her. Investigators said she was severely depressed and frustrated: She felt like her whole existence was dedicated to her child. She felt like she had no life. She wanted Daniel to be normal.
Coupled with Corby's plans to commit suicide herself, her decision to turn herself in, her family's huge bills for Daniel's autism treatments, the description isn't of a cold-blooded killer but a woman with nowhere to turn. It's hard not to feel a least a modicum of sympathy. That's not excusing a criminal; it's being human.
Here are the words of the victim's father, “I hate you with all my heart and soul. You killed our handsome little boy who is without sin ... he had an IQ of 100 ... you hit him on the head and drowned Daniel ... You are a selfish person. To you I say adios.”
Here's what the little boy's aunt had to say to Corby, “You did the most selfish and heinous thing. You murdered him in cold blood. Part of our hearts stopped beating the stars went out in the sky.”
These people will never be able to recover from the loss of a little boy they loved.
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