GUILTY MD - Donna Campbell-Powell, 39, beaten to death, Towson, 13 May 2008

Malini2001

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It's the second time in 3 months a teen-age boy has killed a parent in Baltimore county, Maryland.


A 16-year-old McDonogh School student was charged with first-degree murder in the death yesterday of his mother in their Towson home, Baltimore County police said....

The argument escalated to the point where police say the boy attacked his mother with the bat, striking her in the head and all over her body. Police said the boy then hid the body in the family's garage under a blanket. No one else was home at the time of the attack, Toohey said.



http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.homicide15may15,0,37161.story

It's strange the father arrived home at midnight and apparently didn't notice anything strange.
 
His private myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=291834035

This explains it a little more (the dad):
http://www.nbc4.com/news/16262784/detail.html
Powell hid his mother's body in the garage, Toohey said. Powell's father, who works a night shift, came home around midnight and fell asleep on a sofa, unaware of the violence that had occurred, the spokesman said.

The elder Powell woke up Wednesday morning when his son started beating him about head with a baseball bat, Toohey said. During the struggle that ensued, the younger Powell admitted to killing his mother, the spokesman said. The elder Powell was able to talk the youth out of killing him, according to police.
 
What I think is interesting is that her coworkers were at her door immediately the next morning. How many of you would be going to a "missing" co-workers home like that unless you knew of possible trouble in the home in the first place?

For any co-worker that didn't show up at work in the a.m., I would assume they overslept or had an appointment. Even being a WSer, I wouldn't worry about them right away! She had only worked there about 6 months.

Maybe there was other violence going on in the home either w/the son or the husband and she had told co-workers.

Weird and very sad.
 
This is just heartbreaking, Taxi. You make some interesting points about the coworkers. If I had a coworker that didn't show all day and couldn't be gotten in touch with, I would be tracking down the spouse by Day 2, but I don't know that I would go to the house. It does make me question what they might have known. But then - if they knew there was trouble in the house - what did the Dad know?
 
I hate to be so suspicious, but how does a 16 yr old hide the signs of murder from the father? The father must have just come home and laid on the sofa? Did the son just go to sleep? One would think he'd be quite nervous. Maybe he just stayed holed up in his room.

I hope the reason the co-workers showed up immediately is made public.
 
The statistic at the end of the first article is interesting, but not really surprising:
In the United States, family homicides are rare, and even more rare are cases of children killing their parents. Such cases account for less than 2 percent of all killings, according to experts.

When a child kills a parent, it most often involves a teenage son, and fathers outnumber mothers as victims of such crimes, FBI statistics indicate.
 
I hate to be so suspicious, but how does a 16 yr old hide the signs of murder from the father? The father must have just come home and laid on the sofa? Did the son just go to sleep? One would think he'd be quite nervous. Maybe he just stayed holed up in his room.

I hope the reason the co-workers showed up immediately is made public.

It sounds like the Dad just came home at midnight and went to sleep on the couch. The Mom was hidden in a sofa in the garage. I can see that happening - don't find it too starnge. I'm sure the kid was holed up in his room. I can see the Dad assuming everyone was just asleep. He was probably tired and just went to sleep himself.
 
The statistic at the end of the first article is interesting, but not really surprising:
In the United States, family homicides are rare, and even more rare are cases of children killing their parents. Such cases account for less than 2 percent of all killings, according to experts.

When a child kills a parent, it most often involves a teenage son, and fathers outnumber mothers as victims of such crimes, FBI statistics indicate.

It is very rare, but I'm pretty sure we read about every single one of them here. I'm still reeling from that 15-year-old boy who killed his entire family a few months ago.
 
Good God what an awful thing. He killed his mother on Tuesday afternoon, hid her body in the garage and then in the intervening hours until the father came home at midnight went to sleep on the couch until Wednesday morning. And then as the dad was sleeping he attacked him with the same baseball bat.

What was he doing in the intervening hours between the time he killed his mother Tuesday afternoon and then tried to kill his dad on Wednesday morning?

I see he's going to be tried as an adult too so there must be a lot more that they know that hasn't been released yet.
 
I know Taxi, it looks to have been over twelve hours. That's a long time between attacks. Did he stay in his room or leave the house and come back? And why attack the father at all, especially if the attack on the mother could be put down to a rage attack?
 
What I always find horrifying about this kind of crime is the thought that the mother gave birth to the cause of her own death.
 
So he was an outstanding student but they were fighting about his grades? Strange.
 
The statistic at the end of the first article is interesting, but not really surprising:
In the United States, family homicides are rare, and even more rare are cases of children killing their parents. Such cases account for less than 2 percent of all killings, according to experts.

When a child kills a parent, it most often involves a teenage son, and fathers outnumber mothers as victims of such crimes, FBI statistics indicate.

I hate statistics as i think they are all false mostly false...There have been more kids killing parents that this percentage. it is happening all over. It is like the percentage of African Americans in this country which has been 12 % for at least the past 50 years....Sorry I do not believe it.
 

The story at this link says he was not on the baseball team this year. I wonder if his parents did not allow him to be on the team because they wanted him to concentrate on his classes? It could not have been because of his grades, because the school stated he was still enrolled in advanced placement classes. If he was failing, he would have been removed from those classes.

Might have been a sick kind of poetic justice that he attacked them with a baseball bat. Maybe he felt his mother was the reason he wasn't playing on the team?

The next door neighbors stated that he had become quiet and withdrawn. This was probably a sign of trouble, but I guess his parents did not recognize it. Sad that it came to this.

In regards to the co-workers going to the house in the morning, I wonder if someone tried to contact her the night before and didn't reach her? I think she lived close to her work place, so maybe not being reached the evening before together with not showing up for work caused them to go to the house. They could have been friends, a little closer than just co-workers. Just guessing.
 
I just think this is a calculating murder by the kid. His mother is already deceased by his hand and then he proceeds to bash his father too. It seems of lying in wait with clear head and waiting for the opportune time. For some reason he thought he could get away with it. Maybe his narcissism wasn't fully developed.

No insanity defense here. Wait...maybe a lawyer has something to say.:rolleyes:
 
The story at this link says he was not on the baseball team this year. I wonder if his parents did not allow him to be on the team because they wanted him to concentrate on his classes? It could not have been because of his grades, because the school stated he was still enrolled in advanced placement classes. If he was failing, he would have been removed from those classes.

Might have been a sick kind of poetic justice that he attacked them with a baseball bat. Maybe he felt his mother was the reason he wasn't playing on the team?

The next door neighbors stated that he had become quiet and withdrawn. This was probably a sign of trouble, but I guess his parents did not recognize it. Sad that it came to this.

In regards to the co-workers going to the house in the morning, I wonder if someone tried to contact her the night before and didn't reach her? I think she lived close to her work place, so maybe not being reached the evening before together with not showing up for work caused them to go to the house. They could have been friends, a little closer than just co-workers. Just guessing.


Teenagers can be moody. I'm not sure I would see that as a sign of trouble. At least, I hope not since my two teenagers are very moody. I think the co-workers may have been closer than regular co-workers too.
 

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