Millet AB mother charged in murder of her 2 sons - Meritt BC dad sentenced as "not criminally responsible"

Similar to this case in Oregon, Allyson Louise McConnell was charged in February in the cruel drowning of her 2 young sons Jayden, 10 months, and Connor, 2½ years on Feb 1, 2010.  They were found by their father, Curtis McConnell,in the bathtub in their home.  Curtis and his wife were separated and had received a (presumably interim) court decision that gave the parents joint custody and prevented the mother - who was originally from Australian - from leaving the country with the 2 children.

There was speculation the women attempted to kill herself by driving off an overpass in Edmonton an hour before the children were found.  She is in custody and being evaluated.

Here is an excellent resource on female offenders that I found online.

The day before, Allan Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for murdering his 3 children - 10yr old Kaitlynne, 8yr-old Max and 5yr old Cordon - in April 2008 in Merritt BC during a visit after his common-law wife had relocated from Vancouver with the family.    He was found 9 days after the incident - having clearly failed at taking his own life.    Here was some key points in the judge's decision:

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Powers, who heard the three-month trial in Kamloops without a jury, found that the killings were deliberate and planned by Schoenborn, but that he was not sane at the time.

"I find on balance of probabilities he was suffering from a disease of the mind," Powers told the court Monday.

Powers rejected the Crown's assertion that Schoenborn killed his children as revenge against their mother.

"I find it unlikely [he] would have killed his children out of anger given the close and caring relationship he had with his children," said Powers.

"Mr. Schoenborn, if anything, was overprotective. The irony is that the real danger to the children was Mr. Schoenborn himself and none of the dangers that he imagined in his mind."

But Powers said Schoenborn's imaginary fears can't justify his crime.

"Any reasonable or rational person would know that was wrong," he said. "However, due to his psychosis at the time he was not able to make that decision."

Schoenborn spoke out twice during Powers's reading of his judgment, saying only, "bullshit."

References: PDF1, PDF2, PDF3.


Update - 2013 Sept "Child killer Allyson McConnell found dead"  Sydney Morning Herald

PDF

Memorium to David Andrew BAGLEY (1973SEP25 - 2001NOV05)

On Nov 5, 2001 David Andrew BAGLEY was murdered in Latrobe PA. All available evidence pointed pretty convincingly to his former girlfriend, Shirley TURNER - with whom he had just ended their relationship.  Before she was taken into custody and properly investigated for her role in the crime, she fled to her native Newfoundland.  But that was not the end of her crimes.  Extradition proceeding were started but it became known she was pregnant with BAGLEY's baby.  This delayed extradition proceedings  until this baby - to be named Zachary - was born on Aug 18, 2002.

As time drew on many odd behaviours by TURNER became known to those professionals and personal acquaintances around her.   Yet not one seemed inclined to "connect the dots" about her poor mental state.  In particular, as TURNER was a MD and had friends who were also health professionals it seems remarkable than no-one flagged her troubled behaviour as a potential risk for her new baby.  In an exhaustive review of the case by Justice MARKESTEYN issued in 2006, he described TURNER as "in denial about her own state" and that "her own lawyer seemed unaware about her emotional fragility".

After Zachary was born the extradition process was put in motion again and due to the lengthy process, discussions and appeals - the final decision was received around August 15, 2003 as Zachary was almost 13mths.  With the extradition looming, TURNER late on the evening of Aug 17, 2003 drove with her young son near the home of a recent paramour who had also rejected her, gave her infant son Ativan and jumped into the ocean drowning them both.

I would probably not be marking these deaths - despite the terrible tragedy it represented - except to highlight the strange tunnel-vision of authorities who failed to hold this women to the same standards as we know would apply to men.  I suggest such inattention can not be rationally explained as anything but gender discrimination and happens all too often, usually the lethal detriment of men.

In general the whole sorry case is outlined here, GLNL Turner Review and Investigation - Sept 2006. 

• the preferential treatment of women after divorce allowed TURNER to gain financially from child support payments despite not actually looking after or maintaining full custody of her children.
• she married and divorced twice with 3 children.
• she was unfaithful during her marriages with a number of men - often 9-12 yrs younger - which likely contributed to the failure of her marriages.
  
• a poor and neglectful mother who was the subject of child abuse reports - with no consequences
  
• according to her residency supervisor (who himself was a doctor) she exhibited "manipulative, guiltless and psychopathic" behaviour on many occasions. 
• exhibited many classical DV "controlling" behaviour in many of her personal relationships - stalking, persistent phone-calls, unconscionable jealousy, female "territoriality" (highly exclusionary of current and former female relationships), dramatic suicidal threats and gestures etc.

With hindsight, Shirley TURNER was "unbalanced" but as MARKESTEYN stated in his report, she was so skilled at deceptions it would have taken diligent study to determine her "delinquent parenting history or her - in my reserved opinion - seriously dysfunctional psyche".  A sad case at the hands of an truly psychotic women.

[On March 11, 2009 a longtime friend of Andrew BAGLEY screened a documentary film about this whole saga - it was titled  "Dear Zachary" and I am posting on my "Movie's To Watch" sidebar.]

[References: here and here or http://www.dearzachary.com/]

Perfect example of feminist spin

I suppose I am as guilty as anyone of being taken in by hyperbole and sometimes may have confused bluster for bombast and conviction. But given the sad development last week in Smith AB where a grandfather Ian PAGET, allegedly murdered his wife, daughter, and grand-daughter and then committed suicide - it seems premature, not to mention unseemly for this feminist blogger from the United States [apparently] to be making PRONOUNCEMENTS LIKE THIS within days of the discovery:

"Would this have happened if Terry Eliuk had just let his ex-wife and children leave? (Notice that this story is only a slight variation on usual the family annihilator theme of blaming the female victims. In this case the media reports their ostensible spendthrift habits, and hints at the maternal grandmother's wanting to leave, but says absolutely nothing about the genderized killings, while the men try to "understand" each other's stressors.)"

This is beyond distasteful and heaps a different kind of "abuse" on an indignity to suggest that Terry ELIUK was to blame. In fact is not a stretch to say he saved his son from his sister Misty's fate. But, sad to say I am not surprised as many of these feminist bloggers do little more than shill for their radical sisters inserting spin where none exists. There has been an awful crime committed, but we will never learn the real reasons why and certainly not from those most affected by it.

Also, please note that there are NO excoriating comments on the aforementioned blog about football star Steve McNair's murderous girlfriend who shot him 4 times while asleep before turning the gun on herself. Or former wife of Artuo GATTI, one of the most exciting young lightweight boxers ever from Montreal who was found dead - apparently at his own hand after failing to quell his wife's marital dissatisfaction and the wealthy life he gave her. Or Quebec women, Louise DESNOYERS who drowned her eight-year-old son in August 2006 and was sentenced last month, but was unable to follow through with her own planned suicide. Or Adele SORELLA of Laval QC, who murdered her two daughters on April 2, 2009 and then carelessly crashed her Lexus into a wall. Or Michelle CAMIRE of Winnipeg MB who admitting battering one of her 3 newborns on Oct 22, 2004 and called 911 to admit as much. Or ..... I could go on but why depress oneself.

[archive of articles in scribd]