Woman Faces Justice for Smothering Children and Killing Them

Woman Faces Justice for Smothering Children and Killing Them
  • Filicide is the act of a parent murdering their own child.
  • Roughly 2.5% or 500 of the murders in America are the result of filicide.
  • Andrea Yates is perhaps the most infamous in the US for committing the crime.
  • A German woman just received a sentence for murdering five of her children.

(NewsReady.com) – Germany was rocked by a horrific murder in September 2020. Christiane K., a woman known only by her first name because of German privacy laws, drowned or smothered five of her six children. Prosecutors said she was emotionally overwhelmed when she carried out the crimes. Now, she’ll have plenty of time to heal on her own while she’s living in prison.

He’ll Never See His Kids Again

According to prosecutors, Christiane, 28, spent her third marriage pretending to be perfect. She wanted the outside world to think everything was amazing in her world. She had four children with her husband, adding to the two she already had from previous relationships. One day, her marriage fell apart, and she was overwhelmed. While her estranged husband moved on, she did not.

Authorities say the mother logged onto Facebook on September 3, 2020, and saw her ex’s photo of himself and his new girlfriend. That set Christiane off. She sent a text to her ex telling him he’d never see his children again. Then, she proceeded to drug their breakfasts, sedating them, and she murdered them one by one.

When her 11-year-old son, Marcel, came home from school, Christiane asked him if he wanted to jump in front of a train with her. He refused, and she sent him to live with his grandma. The woman then called her mother and let her know she’d killed the younger kids. Grandma called the police, who raced to the apartment, but it was too late. Officers found Melina (1), Leonie (2), Sophie (3), Timo (6) and Luca (8) wrapped in towels, dead in their beds.

Christiane subsequently jumped in front of the train, but she survived. A German court sentenced her to at least 15 years in prison but indicated she would likely never get out.

American Crime

Germany isn’t the only country to experience such a horrific crime. In 2001, there was a very similar case in Houston, Texas. Andrea Yates drowned her five children in her bathtub after experiencing a psychotic episode.

The Yates case brought a lot of attention to mental health problems in mothers, specifically postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. At her first trial, the court found her guilty of capital murder and sentenced her to life with the possibility of parole after 40 years. An appeal overturned that verdict, and Texas tried her again. That time, a jury found Yates not guilty by reason of insanity and committed her to a mental health hospital where she continues to live 20 years after the crimes.

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