GUILTY NH - Mara Pappalardo, 39, & Mason Smeltzer, 4, murdered, Auburn, 7 Nov 2010

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Joe Friday

Joe Friday

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Man Beats His Wife to Death for Understandable Reason

There are almost no occasions in which beating a spouse to death is an appropriate response. But for one father in New Hampshire who returned to find his children seemingly murdered by their mother, it kind of makes sense.

Last year, Christopher Smeltzer returned home one day to find his 4-year-old son strangled to death, his 7-year-old daughter seemingly also strangled (though she was only unconscious), and the guilty party -- his wife, Mara Pappalardo -- trying to hang herself.

Understandably, the man lost control. And what he did next may make him spend the next decade in prison. He picked up a flashlight and he beat his wife to death. Is it bad that I don't even blame him?

(snipped)

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_n...mpaign=outbrain&utm_content=outbrain_feb_test
 
did the 7 year old survive, I still think he should have been tried for the murder
 
Well that's a 'crime of passion' if ever there was one! I don't think I could find him guilty if this is in fact what happened.
 
joe jones said:
did the 7 year old survive, I still think he should have been tried for the murder
Click to expand...

If you follow the link in the article to the Huffington post article, it says that after he killed his wife, and thinking both his children dead, he took all the pills he could find in the house trying to kill himself... the next morning his daughter woke him up and he then called 911.
 
IMO there is never an understandable reason to beat someone to death.

Just my opinion.
 
I could see temporary insanity upon finding his children (thought both were dead) murdered. What jury could convict him of not being emotionally traumatized under those conditions. But, he's pleading guilty so there won't be a jury.
 
I totally understand your points.
I totally understand wanting her dead.
Crime of passion, I get that.

But IMO, there is never an "understandable reason" for beating someone to death with a flashlight.


It's JMO.
 
If I came home and found that my husband/boyfriend/significant other had murdered one of my children and attempted to murder the other one- I would try to kill him so fast it would make one's head spin. I would like to think that I would just call 911 and let justice take its course, but I know myself better than that. If I were on a jury re. this case, this man would (with proper mental health counseling) W-A-L-K!!
 
Kimberlyd125 said:
I totally understand your points.
I totally understand wanting her dead.
Crime of passion, I get that.

But IMO, there is never an "understandable reason" for beating someone to death with a flashlight.


It's JMO.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. Or more than that if that's possible.
 
I'm wondering what evidence there was to suggest that he didn't commit all the murders and make it look like his wife did.

One of the articles I read said he returned from a cocaine-snorting outing, killed his wife then took a bunch of pills and tried to kill himself as well but woke up later the next morning.

When Smeltzer left their Auburn home at about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7, Mason was asleep and Mercey was getting ready for bed, Young said. He returned less than four hours later from a cocaine-snorting outing with two friends. He would latter tell one of them that life had gotten much worse.

Believing his entire family was dead, Smeltzer did not call 911. He snipped the ribbon off Mason’s neck; removed a scarf from Mercey’s neck. Then he took all the pills he could gather — painkillers, sleeping aids and methadone— and lay down on the couch to die.

"He did not want to live," Young said.

Smeltzer was awakened by Mercey the next morning. She asked if her mother and brother were breathing. She also asked her father to make her a cup of tea. He did. Then he called his father and 911.

While waiting for police to arrive Smeltzer made one more phone call, Young said, to close friend Dan Moore.

"You know how I said things couldn’t get worse?" Young said he asked Moore. "Things got worse. Mason’s gone. Mara’s gone. Mercey’s here."

Young said that from the outset, Smeltzer admitted killing his wife and denied killing his children. He was arrested that same day — Nov. 8 — and charged with second-degree murder.


Read more at link:http://www.bostonherald.com/news/re...ficial_husband_killed_wife_who_strangled_son/
Click to expand...
 
I wonder if there is any evidence that his wife killed his son, Mercy the daughter from the above post does not appear to corroborate his story, as it seems she woke up in the morning to find her mother and brother dead and no knowledge of how it had happened

seems very odd to me and to some members of his wifes family, unless the state has more evidence than provided in that article then there is reason to doubt his story,
 
Ahhhh
Starting to hear "the rest of the story".

So maybe it wasn't a crime of passion. Maybe it was a drug induced rage.
 
This sounds kinda familiar.... Didn't Christian Longo try to use this defense?
 
Like Mr. Sweat who killed those two young girls -- I forgot which state --- this man may have seen things which 'weren't'. Supposedly drugs can cause people to do things that they later have no knowledge of commiting.
Hopefully they thoroughly 'scoured' the crime scene for evidence !
Sad for the little girl.... I don't know what to think of the father yet.
 
Joe Friday said:
I'm wondering what evidence there was to suggest that he didn't commit all the murders and make it look like his wife did.

One of the articles I read said he returned from a cocaine-snorting outing, killed his wife then took a bunch of pills and tried to kill himself as well but woke up later the next morning.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm sooo glad I'm not the only person who thought that!
 
I don't believe him!

But LE appears to want to, so case closed.?

just sayin'

fran
 
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20140602/NEWS03/140609803

A Raymond man accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl admitted to a lesser charge on Monday as part of a negotiated plea deal with county prosecutors.

Richard Smeltzer, 68, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Rockingham County Superior Court for having contact with the girl last June 23...

His son, Christopher Smeltzer, is currently serving a 15- to 30-year state prison term for killing his wife, Mara Pappalardo.
Click to expand...
 
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