GUILTY GA - Nancy Salado-Mayo, 30, killed, 6yo injured by suicidal driver, 4 Oct 2006

[cappuccina]

...I don't feel like she and her parents deserve the public whipping that they've been taking.

Why? At this girl's age, my friends and I were working 1 or 2 jobs, going to high school, and were in honors classes, even universaity classes...We didn't have cars, and rode public transportation or our bicycles. We all had family responsibilities, including watching younger sibs and others in the neighborhood, as well as extensive household chores. We were allowed to go out on dates only on weekends. Most of us paid for a lot of our own clothes, music lessons, etc.

This girl is not even an impetuous spoiled brat. She is a sociopathic spoiled brat. I think that whatever people are saying to her and her family is just fine. If you do somehting like this girl did, and if you raise a child to be a "me firster at all costs", then tough ***** you reap what you sow; not everyone has the incredible grace that the Amish folks do at times like this. These folks better expect people to say things for a long time to come...

 

[southcitymom]

Why? At this girl's age, my friends and I were working 1 or 2 jobs, going to high school, and were in honors classes, even universaity classes...We didn't have cars, and rode public transportation or our bicycles. We all had family responsibilities, including watching younger sibs and others in the neighborhood, as well as extensive household chores. We were allowed to go out on dates only on weekends. Most of us paid for a lot of our own clothes, music lessons, etc.

This girl is not even an impetuous spoiled brat. She is a sociopathic spoiled brat. I think that whatever people are saying to her and her family is just fine. If you do somehting like this girl did, and if you raise a child to be a "me firster at all costs", then tough ***** you reap what you sow; not everyone has the incredible grace that the Amish folks do at times like this. These folks better expect people to say things for a long time to come...

We have no idea if this girl was raised to be a "me firster." That's all I am saying. All the rotten things people are saying about her and her family are pure speculation because they are rich and "privileged."

At this girl's age, I was going to private school, working one job sometimes. I did not have extensive household or family responsibilities, though I was heavily involved in school and extracuricular activities. I had my own car, given to me on my 16th birthday by my parents. I did not pay for my own clothes or music lessons or anything like that.

My family was not wealthy and they raised me to care about others. I got great grades in school, aced my SATs, played sports, sang in the choir, was editor of the school magazine, president of this and that, etc etc etc...

That said, I was making mischief and up to no good every chance I got! My parents could hardly be blamed for my adolescent running amok. They certainly exacted consequences when I got caught, but I didn't get caught very much. And I pulled some stunts similar in nature to the girl at issue in this matter.

I know people will continue to talk about this family because we want to have someone to blame. But, like all families, I doubt this one is as black and white as we want to paint them to be.

 

[Masterj]

Why? At this girl's age, my friends and I were working 1 or 2 jobs, going to high school, and were in honors classes, even universaity classes...We didn't have cars, and rode public transportation or our bicycles. We all had family responsibilities, including watching younger sibs and others in the neighborhood, as well as extensive household chores. We were allowed to go out on dates only on weekends. Most of us paid for a lot of our own clothes, music lessons, etc.

How do you know she didn't work, get good grades and have household responsibilities? You are making assumptions about her and making it sound like all children who are fortunate enough to have wealthy parents are problem children. Do you honestly think it is that cut and dry? Contrary to your thinking, good parents can raise bad children. Just like bad parents can raise great children. It seems to me like you are unfairly judging rich people. They might have more money than some of us, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad people. Like I said before, I would rather know all the facts before I jump all over them and their parenting skills.

 

[SadieMae]

She also had her seatbelt on. And why did she ram her parent's Mercedes into a little Daewoo? Why not a semi, or a guardrail, or a tree? I do not believe for an instant she wanted to kill herself. She walked away with an ankle injury, for God's sake. She hit an immigrant with child in a little Daewoo. She is narcisstic and without a conscience. She was sexually rejected and trying to make the object of her affections feel responsible for her behavior. Reprehensible. And her parents, I'm sure, are excusing her via their high-priced attorney.

I couldn't agree with you more!! For whatever her reasons were for creating "drama", why hit another car? How could she think there's no possibility of someone being seriously injured or being killed in a collision? I don't care how much money her parents may or may not have...she needs to be punished to the fullest for taking innocent lives. She acted like a brat and she need more than just her hiney spanked for her disregard for others. In prison maybe she'll find a new girlfriend. JMO.

 

[southerngirl]

For me, this case has nothing to do really with the wealth of LouLou's parents. It has EVERYTHING to do with the actions of one girl, actions that in every way appear intentional and resulted in the death of an innocent human being. I too pulled some stupid adolescent stunts, but nothing on the par of reckless disregard for human life. At 16 she certainly knew the consequences of her actions.

 

[southcitymom]

For me, this case has nothing to do really with the wealth of LouLou's parents. It has EVERYTHING to do with the actions of one girl, actions that in every way appear intentional and resulted in the death of an innocent human being. I too pulled some stupid adolescent stunts, but nothing on the par of reckless disregard for human life. At 16 she certainly knew the consequences of her actions.

I guess this is where opinion comes in. I've read everything posted about this case and I have no idea whether this young girl's actions were intentional or not. I mean maybe they were, but that's not the obvious or only conclusion.

So there's a countdown...that doesn't prove anything....maybe the wreck was caused because she was text messaging when she should have been paying attention to her driving.

Again - I just don't have enough information to call this girl a sociopath or to say she has no conscience.

When I was 16 years old I drove around loaded on alcohol on a regular basis. I never thought about the fact that I was putting others in danger with this behavior. I was extraordinarily self-centered and naive. Like many teenagers, I felt like nothing bad could happen to me or touch my world. I'm not proud of this part of my past and I am deeply grateful I never harmed myself or anyone else.

Did my behavior as a teenager make me a sociopath or a person without a conscience? I don't think so. If - when I as 16 - my irresponsible actions had caused the death of an innocent human being would that have made me a sociopath or a person without a conscience? I don't think so.

It would have made me a young woman headed to prison where I would have had a good long time to learn about actions and consequences the hard way.

 

[KatK]

I ditto everything you have said here. I feel like there have been a lot of assumptions made about this girl and her family with no sustainable facts to verify them. I am not even convinced that it WASN'T an accident (even with the countdown) caused by a hormone riddled, self-centered adolescent.

If she truly lost control of the car, witnesses would have seen her swerve, or slow. They didn't. If it were an accident, the police would have (by analysis of the tire marks) been able to determine speed of both vehicles, and if there were swerving or braking. I'd think that it would have leaked by now if she had swerved or braked, but maybe, possibly not.

 

[southcitymom]

If she truly lost control of the car, witnesses would have seen her swerve, or slow. They didn't. If it were an accident, the police would have (by analysis of the tire marks) been able to determine speed of both vehicles, and if there were swerving or braking. I'd think that it would have leaked by now if she had swerved or braked, but maybe, possibly not.

Sounds like her side is being very quiet and I have not seen any analysis of tire marks. As someone who has worked on lots of accident cases (when I was a parlegal), it's a fact that people do not always swerve or slow or brake when there's an accident.

 

[KatK]

Combine the fact that she was texting a countdown in the seconds leading up to the crash? That is what leans my opinion towards the idea that she meant to wreck. (I can still be convinced that this is not the case, but it's going to take more than an emotional appeal to do so.)

 

[txsvicki]

Obviously, a 16 year old girl did not work at a job to pay for her own Mercedes. Maybe if she had to work and buy her own before being allowed to drive such an expensive vehicle, she wouldn't have thought so little of ramming her sturdy car into a small car as LE says happened after seeing the scene and the text messages. Maybe she wouldn't have even been texting on the cell phone while driving and threatening to kill herself at the same time. I agree that the girl could be a sociopath to have such little feeling for others and to totally dehumanize the people in the other cars and the harm that she alone could cause. Even what she supposedly wanted wasn't the love and devotion of the other girl, it was sex for herself. This wasn't some little normal girl who was distracted while on a cell phone and had a horrible "accident", this was intentional and the proof show this. As far as not getting through her countdown, maybe the light simply changed. I'd think it might be a little hard to time a countdown all the way to blastoff while on a street with other vehicles.

 

[misterallgood]

Thank you for the links to my blog entry about LouLou the Beast.

Apparently, the D.A. didn't know about LouLou's MySpace, and that was of interest to them. I found this out from a reader (I think she posts here, too) at the end of last week. Haven't heard from the D.A. yet, but may speak with them this week.

For the record, I think something is wrong in Louise's head and I think that if she had any kind of entitlement growing up, too much rope, what have you, that might have been the worst thing for her. The act as it has been described by the D.A. was one of desperation combined with manipulation. She was allegedly texting this other girl in a manner that would indicate she wanted the person to feel responsible for what happened.

I do think Louise was trying to commit suicide. But I think the way she did it and her effort at making the other girl feel responsible both indicate a pretty scary underlying personality. Her MySpace indicated the same to me. I'm sorry, I've been doing this too long now, and some, most of these kids & adults are definitely trying to tell a visitor to their webpage something about themselves. Webpages easily made like MySpace profiles are just as much a statement as clothing. Louise's had that huge fanged smiley face and the jokey "evil inside" legend, designed to look like the "intel inside" thing we all see on our computers. Joke or not, Louise was wearing some spikey armor. And did a well-off, athletic, highly intelligent, 6'0" blonde need that armor? No. At least not as far as we can see.

I'm sure there is much more to this story than we now know. I haven't entirely written Louise off as the ultimate nasty little spoiled brat, one whose tantrum finally destroyed other lives, even though my emotional reaction to the story is to do just that. I do wonder if her family dynamic isn't thoroughly, uh, fascinating.

I don't know that she will have it easy after all. There's already a drumbeat starting on talk radio here in town about this case. Juries may be counselled to ignore such things, but a judge will not necessarily do so, no matter what he or she says. Already, some local folks really want to see the book thrown at Louise Brunstad. No telling what will really happen in the end, though.

Steve

 

[southcitymom]

My son's preschool teacher has a daughter in Louise's class at Holy Innocents. I will ask her what she might know about Louise and/or her family when I pick him up today.

 

[southcitymom]

I spoke with my son's teacher today. Her daughter is in the same class at Holy Innocents as the girl who Louise had the unrequited crush on. Louise left a suicide note in this girl's locker on the same day that she crashed her car into Nancy Salado-Mayo's car.

Louise was known to be troubled and have troubles. She was depressed that her affections for this girl were not returned. Most people at the school believe she was suicidal when this happened. The general consensus among her closest friends and teachers seems to be that she was suicidal, not homicidal or malevolent. Louise is in treatment now.

My son's teacher does not know anything about Louise's family.

 

[southerngirl]

I spoke with my son's teacher today. Her daughter is in the same class at Holy Innocents as the girl who Louise had the unrequited crush on. Louise left a suicide note in this girl's locker on the same day that she crashed her car into Nancy Salado-Mayo's car.

Louise was known to be troubled and have troubles. She was depressed that her affections for this girl were not returned. Most people at the school believe she was suicidal when this happened. The general consensus among her closest friends and teachers seems to be that she was suicidal, not homicidal or malevolent. Louise is in treatment now.

My son's teacher does not know anything about Louise's family.

Thank you, southcitymom, for getting us an inside scoop! The problem I have with the suicide theory is that most people who commit suicide do not involve others. They OD, they shoot themselves in the head, they cut their wrists. No doubt LouLou is a troubled girl. I am just skeptical of the suicide motive. She seems to be a very internally angry young lady. I wonder why....

 

[southcitymom]

Thank you, southcitymom, for getting us an inside scoop! The problem I have with the suicide theory is that most people who commit suicide do not involve others. They OD, they shoot themselves in the head, they cut their wrists. No doubt LouLou is a troubled girl. I am just skeptical of the suicide motive. She seems to be a very internally angry young lady. I wonder why....

The whys I could not answer. There's definitely some mental stuff going on there.

Suicide being one of the ultimate selfish acts, perhaps it is safe to say that most (if not all) people who are in the space that they decide to kill themselves are not thinking of others or of consequences. They just want it done.

Several months - maybe even a year - ago there was a case of a woman who tried to commit suicide with her vehicle and she ran her car head on into another vehicle. Of course, the suicidal woman did not die but the people in the other car did. When the suicidal woman was questioned, she essentially said "I just wanted to die and that's all I was thinking about - getting it done. It never crossed my mind that other people might be harmed."

Obviously, her thought pattern in this regard was not based in reality, but I doubt many people at this point are thinking rationally. That's all I am saying.

I highly doubt that Louise was thinking rationally. Does that excuse her actions? Absolutely not. But does it mean she was a sociopath hellbent on murdering others? I don't think so.

I feel like a lot of what Louise was experiencing was "normal adolescent angst" for lack of a better description. She just didn't respond to it normally because she's got some mental issues going on.

At her age, it's normal to develop crushes that are overwhelming in their intensity. It's normal to want to be manipulative and strike out if your feelings aren't reciprocated. It's normal to think that everything is so much more important than it really is.

It's NOT normal to want to kill yourself over these feelings, but we all know that some (too many) teenagers do. I have compassion for this troubled young girl just as I have compassion for the family whose lives her actions have indeliably altered.

I'm just not ready to demonize her yet, though I understand the desire to do that. It's much less frightening to think she's a soul-less psychopath beyond any hope than to think she's our daughter, our student, our niece, our neighbor - a confused, troubled teenage girl whose desparation and sickness somehow slipped our attention.

 

[Paladin]

How come it's always the person in the other car that dies and not the driver? Makes you wonder if the man up above keeps them alive on purpose to teach them a lesson.

 

[southcitymom]

How come it's always the person in the other car that dies and not the driver? Makes you wonder if the man up above keeps them alive on purpose to teach them a lesson.

I have had a similar thought a time or two myself....

 

[IdahoMom]

I have had a similar thought a time or two myself....

Me too. It's stories like this that make me think that life isn't fair.

 

[southerngirl]

Can you please share with me what makes you think her parents are doing anything different than other parents would do? I am not excusing her actions in any way, I'm just wondering what you've come across in this case to make you think her parents are excusing her.

Thanks.

Today I read on Steve Huff's blog in the comment's section words by Nancy Salado-Mayo's niece. She said there has not been a word of apology expressed by LouLou's family. Absolutely I would apologize to the family if I were in their shoes, as I think most moral people would. To not express sorrow and apologize to the victim's family is unconscionable.

 

[Masterj]

Today I read on Steve Huff's blog in the comment's section words by Nancy Salado-Mayo's niece. She said there has not been a word of apology expressed by LouLou's family. Absolutely I would apologize to the family if I were in their shoes, as I think most moral people would. To not express sorrow and apologize to the victim's family is unconscionable.

That is so wrong.