Mom charged in Daughters killing.

by Parliament 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Parliament

  I wonder if the are going to change the talk this coming Sunday at the hall. I'm only wondering because she goes to the same hall I used to attend. Yep she's a DUB. I wonder since there prolly wasn't 2 witnesses to the killing, if she will just get reproved.

  Mom charged in disabled daughter’s killing

  
  By James Kimberly
  ChicagoTribune staff reporter
  Published April 4, 2006, 5:06 PM CDT A 57-year-old west suburban resident was charged today with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of her adult daughter, whose body was found Monday after the mother crashed the car they were riding in.
  
  Betty C. Whitten, 57, was charged in the death of her 34-year-old daughter, Nyakiambia Whitten, who lived with her parents on the 42W500 block of Hawk Circle in unincorporated Kane County, near St. Charles, authorities said.
  
  Kane County Judge Robert L. Janes ordered Whitten held in lieu of $2 million bail in the county jail. The defendant is to make an initial court appearance Wednesday morning.
  
  "She is remorseful and emotional" and on suicide watch, Kane County Sheriff Kenneth Ramsey said.
  
  Ramsey declined to say what motivated the alleged killing but noted the daughter had cerebral palsy and was developmentally disabled, and that the mother was under stress from caring for her daughter and from her life.
  
  "Reviewing the totality of the circumstances, this was a tragic family situation," Ramsey said.
  
  Betty Whitten's husband, Earstin Whitten, said in an interview with the Tribune that his slain daughter was "an innocent, loving, caring person."
  
  He said he does not know what happened between his wife and his daughter.
  
  "I would like to know why this happened. I would like to see my wife get whatever assistance she needs to become whole," he said.
  
  The police investigation began late Monday morning, when Betty Whitten allegedly fled from a police traffic stop and drove her gray four-door 2002 Hyundai off a bridge embankment at the Fox River in downtown St. Charles.
  
  The car came to rest upside-down on a walking path. Emergency responders extricated Whitten and her daughter from the vehicle and found the younger woman had been stabbed multiple times, including once in the chest. She was taken to Delnor-Community Hospital, Geneva, where she was pronounced dead.
  
  The mother sustained a cut on her head and also was taken to Delnor-Community, where she was treated and then released to authorities.
• 

  candidlynuts

  how awful.. how many years did that poor woman go to assemblies and meetings thinking the end will be here soon and my daughter will be whole and healthy! and deal with that disability alone with no counseling no support from her religion..( you know its very doubtful she got any help from the cong or counsel from the elders, sheparding calls etc)

  the poor daughter surely didnt deserve to die violently like this.. how tragic!

  sad sad situation.
• 

  anewme

  This is a terrible tragedy that is not over Im afraid.
  
  This poor woman lived the life of a JW awaiting paradise. She fully believed her daughter would be in paradise by now. This hope probably kept her going all these years. Now as she is getting older herself and no longer able to help her daughter like she would like to and sees her own life as questionably spent she was crumbling. Im sure the congregation was never doing enough to encourage her and give her breaks.
  
  The article doesnt say the father was living with them. Often with cerebral palsy the strain takes its toll on the marriage of the parents. State and County assistance is available if dad checks out. Sometimes that is the only financial answer.
  
  Sad sad sad. She will no doubt be disfellowshipped on top of facing murder charges by the authorities.
  I think she will attempt suicide again unless she gets some psychological therapy. But where will she get this help now??? Poor thing. Now her JW relatives will not speak to her in this terrible moment.
  My heart goes out to her without even knowing her. Of course her poor daughter suffered so much in life.
  Oh despair!
  
  This story really makes me sad.
  
  Even Job did not suffer that long.
• 

  Parliament

  Just so everyone knows My statement was by no means making light of the situation. I saw this on the news this morning and never thought twice about who it was. It was only later today that I got a call from someone and they said "Did you hear about the car going over the bridge in Geneva yesterday?" I said "yep". Then they said "well guess who it was....I hope the media doesn't say anything about her being a witness". I thought to myself how crappy a comment it was, that all they were concerned about was, not anyone finding out that she was a witness. I realy didn't know this woman well, other than she had a disabled daugther. It was years and years ago that I saw either of them.
• 

  looking_glass

  Yeah there is always that fear that the media will get a hold of someone being a JW and publish it. However, the land of Lincoln has been peppered with similar things of late. I worked with a guy whose cousin was a JW in Chicago and she was married to an inactive JW. He killed his wife, child and mother. I think they lived in Chicago on the south or west side, but I am not sure. The guy I worked w/ was still an active JW and he was sad that they kept mentioning the Witnesses. It is the whole "reproach" thing. Hmm, did I spell that work right, it looks wrong.
• 

  LDH

  Then they said "well guess who it was....I hope the media doesn't say anything about her being a witness". I thought to myself how crappy a comment it was, that all they were concerned about was, not anyone finding out that she was a witness.

  niiiiice.

  Very sad. 37 years of "Real Soon Now."
• 

  bigmouth

  "......But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear,.....he will also make the way out...."
  Yeah, right.
• 

  sf

  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0604060271apr06,1,2393718.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed

  Accused mom gets public defender

  
  By James Kimberly, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance reporter Rita Hoover contributed to this report
  Published April 6, 2006
  
  On her 58th birthday, a St. Charles mother sat expressionless Wednesday as a Kane County judge outlined her rights and appointed a public defender to represent her on charges that she murdered her disabled daughter.
  
  "Yeah" was the only thing Betty C. Whitten said in her initial court appearance when Judge J. Patrick Dixon asked her to confirm her identity. During the rest of brief hearing conducted via closed-circuit TV, Whitten nodded as Dixon explained the charges against her and her constitutional rights.
  
  Whitten, of the 42W500 block of Hawk Circle in unincorporated St. Charles, was in a room at the Kane County Jail, where she is being held in lieu of $2 million bail
  
  Whitten is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of her 34-year-old daughter Nyakiambi Whitten, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities and was unable to live independently. According to authorities, Whitten put the dead woman's body in the family car Monday morning and drove to downtown St. Charles, where she crashed through a guardrail at the Prairie Street bridge and overturned in Mt. St. Mary's Park.
  
  Police have said Whitten felt that she was under a lot of pressure from caring for her daughter and other aspects of her life at the time of the crime.
  
  Dixon assigned Whitten's case to the courtroom of Circuit Judge Grant Wegner and scheduled a Friday court date.
  
  Assistant State's Atty. Greg Sams said he knew of no evidence that would make Whitten eligible for the death penalty if convicted of the crime, but added that the office would study the issue.
  
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