GUILTY IL - Johanna Vera for feeding sons rat poison, Chicago, 2008

That's awful!

Why do people get a lesser charge just because their victim didn't die? I know this isn't how the world is, but it bugs me.
 
Article says she also poisoned herself. This may be a case of mental illness rather than treachery.
 
Mental illness or completely nuts!

Mental illness or bat s*it crazy. What an act of desperation. Feed your kids rat poison. Now, I wonder how much she gave them and how much she ate? Pound for pound and all.
 
Article says she also poisoned herself. This may be a case of mental illness rather than treachery.

My understanding is that she wanted to punish one of her son's fathers.

I think this mother was in pain and didn't see how she could go on. But, she didn't want to leave her children behind to be given to their fathers who had wronged her.

I don't think she was so much mentally ill (or delusional) as she had gotten caught up in crazy wrong thoughts, like... "They would all die together and be in a better place safe from the men who had caused her pain."

My opinion.
 
My understanding is that she wanted to punish one of her son's fathers.

I think this mother was in pain and didn't see how she could go on. But, she didn't want to leave her children behind to be given to their fathers who had wronged her.

I don't think she was so much mentally ill (or delusional) as she had gotten caught up in crazy wrong thoughts, like... "They would all die together and be in a better place safe from the men who had caused her pain."

My opinion.
That's an interesting family dynamic - do we know if there was there a lot of domestic violence in her past with the men? I know she called one of the men and reported what she had done which is why she and the children are still alive. Poisoning herself and the children and then reporting it could be a sign of the mother having been in a dissociative state. It could have also been a ploy for attention or help.

Something about this case just isn't saying cold-blooded killer to me - a very mixed up or troubled woman who does not need to be caring for those children anytime soon for sure though - sort of like the Britney Spears case.
 
Every time I read something like this, I wonder what is going on in this world??? How sad and awful.
 
That's an interesting family dynamic - do we know if there was there a lot of domestic violence in her past with the men? I know she called one of the men and reported what she had done which is why she and the children are still alive. Poisoning herself and the children and then reporting it could be a sign of the mother having been in a dissociative state. It could have also been a ploy for attention or help.

Something about this case just isn't saying cold-blooded killer to me - a very mixed up or troubled woman who does not need to be caring for those children anytime soon for sure though - sort of like the Britney Spears case.

I'm sorry, I'm just not seeing how a woman who poisons her kids can be compared to Britney or how Britney's behaviors can be compared to this womans behavior. :waitasec:
 
That's an interesting family dynamic - do we know if there was there a lot of domestic violence in her past with the men? I know she called one of the men and reported what she had done which is why she and the children are still alive. Poisoning herself and the children and then reporting it could be a sign of the mother having been in a dissociative state. It could have also been a ploy for attention or help.

Something about this case just isn't saying cold-blooded killer to me - a very mixed up or troubled woman who does not need to be caring for those children anytime soon for sure though - sort of like the Britney Spears case.
She DID call while she and her boys could still be saved.

To me that says possibly manipulative.

I agree she should never be alone with the children anytime soon . I am curious to know what a full mental evaluation would disclose.
 
This is just so sad and horrible. I wonder what kind of mental problems she has?

I hope this just wasn't for attention and to be manipulative.

What is going on in the world? This is plain crazy and we are hearing about too much of this going on in the world.

Gozgals
 
What needs to change is unwed mothers automatically having custody. These boys had different dads? I bet both paid child support. The whole custody/child support structure needs to change. Joint custody should be the norm.
 
I'm sorry, I'm just not seeing how a woman who poisons her kids can be compared to Britney or how Britney's behaviors can be compared to this womans behavior. :waitasec:
Britney is seriously mentally ill and is a serious danger to her young children because she is not able to properly supervise them or plan for them. Britney's children could have suffered severe harm or death as a result of her inability to properly care for them. This is why the judge in that case is currently allowing no contact with the children at all.

The woman in this case may be seriously mentally ill as well and also unable to properly supervise or plan for her children. Her behavior could have resulted in severe harm or death as a result of her inability to make the decision that eating rat poison and feeding it to her children was not a proper way to deal with whatever went on between her and the father of one of the children.
Sounds like Munchausen Syndrome to me. Attention seeking - and dangerous.
In Munchhausen's Syndrome and Munchhausen's Syndrome by proxy, people do not tell on themselves readily - nor do they normally have multiple victims at the same time.
 
Britney is seriously mentally ill and is a serious danger to her young children because she is not able to properly supervise them or plan for them. Britney's children could have suffered severe harm or death as a result of her inability to properly care for them. This is why the judge in that case is currently allowing no contact with the children at all.

The woman in this case may be seriously mentally ill as well and also unable to properly supervise or plan for her children. Her behavior could have resulted in severe harm or death as a result of her inability to make the decision that eating rat poison and feeding it to her children was not a proper way to deal with whatever went on between her and the father of one of the children.
In Münchhausen's Syndrome and Münchhausen's Syndrome by proxy, people do not tell on themselves readily - nor do they normally have multiple victims at the same time.

I wonder what her particular brand of nuts is, then? I'm sure somewhere there's a name for it. I think I'm not allowed to post what I'd name it.
 
Britney is seriously mentally ill and is a serious danger to her young children because she is not able to properly supervise them or plan for them. Britney's children could have suffered severe harm or death as a result of her inability to properly care for them. This is why the judge in that case is currently allowing no contact with the children at all.

The woman in this case may be seriously mentally ill as well and also unable to properly supervise or plan for her children. Her behavior could have resulted in severe harm or death as a result of her inability to make the decision that eating rat poison and feeding it to her children was not a proper way to deal with whatever went on between her and the father of one of the children.
In Münchhausen's Syndrome and Münchhausen's Syndrome by proxy, people do not tell on themselves readily - nor do they normally have multiple victims at the same time.

I realize that Britney is mentally ill and no longer has custody or visitation with her kids but she has not been accused of harming or poisoning them like the woman we are discussing. There is a huge leap from being unstable and unable to properly care for your kids as is the case with Britney, to attempting to murder them with rat poison, as is the case with the woman we are discussing here.

I have no doubt that what this woman is afflicted with is way more complex than what Brit is dealing with. This woman has crossed a line people with Bipolar do not normally cross- we have our issues but murdering our kids isn't very high on that list.

Someone like Britney who has never caused harm to her kids has the right to earn her children back once she gets well. But this woman, after trying to kill her kids? No way, I don't care what mental illness they diagnose her with- she crossed a line and has lost her rights as a mother and to live amongst us in society. IMO!
 
What needs to change is unwed mothers automatically having custody. These boys had different dads? I bet both paid child support. The whole custody/child support structure needs to change. Joint custody should be the norm.
Oh Pleeeeeze. That has nothing to do with it.:rolleyes:
 
Most untreated mental illness is progressive. Consider the cases we see all the time where the extended family of a child abuse victim has reported the parent(s) multiple times for bizarre behavior, LE has been involved because of bizarre behavior, nothing substantial is done in the way of intervention or treatment and they later do severe harm to the child or kill the child.

This is my point: Britney is getting help before anything truly awful has happened to her children. I believe the lady that fed herself and her children rat poison was probably showing signs similar to Britney's of her inability to parent the children long before this happened - signs that were either ignored or not taken seriously enough - and that lead to the final desperate act. Had someone intervened in this case as they did in Britney's case, we would not be reading about rat poison today.
 
What needs to change is unwed mothers automatically having custody. These boys had different dads? I bet both paid child support. The whole custody/child support structure needs to change. Joint custody should be the norm.

I'd love to meet a man who pays child support and is responsible enough to help raise his own children. Unfortunately, those men are already scooped up and all I seem to meet are the rest of them.
 

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