OR - Eldon Smith, 4, dropped from bridge, Portland, 23 May 2009

[breanna]

Oh man. I just read about this story on the front page of our newspaper.

http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/859651.html

I thought of you Scandi and your proximity to this. Then I saw this thread. Bless you as you try and give us news :blowkiss:

I've been over this bridge before. What the heck is wrong with these mothers? These people lately? Good Lord. How the heck can you throw your kids off a bridge? Oh never mind. How can you drown them in a car or bury them in a playground or throw them in a trashbag in the woods. I'm so utterly sick of this :furious::furious::furious:

 

[jnTexas]

So where was the GD AMBER ALERT?!?! :furious::furious::furious:

I didn't even think about an amber alert. Would they issue an amber alert if he was not the custodal parent? Don't know if he is or not just thought that could be why?

I keep thinking about that poor 7 yr old girl. My youngest will be 7 in july. she just learned to swim last summer and is not a strong swimmer. she is also afraid of the dark. I just cannot imagine how scared this poor child was out there in the dark, cold, and swift water knowing the one person she trusted threw her over. She was probably trying to save her brother along with herself. My heart just hurts for these babies.

Oh and LE should've let the jump. It would've saved tax dollars, and keep her from getting out and having more children to hurt. Seeing as the prison doors in our country are revolving.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Originally Posted by SuziQ
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index..._willamet.html

(snip)
Stott-Smith was found this morning about 7 or 8 a.m. on the ninth floor of a parking garage at Fifth Avenue and Yamhill Street, police said. When police approached her, she attempted to jump off the parking garage, and they stopped her.
Police said Stott-Smith drives a 1991 blue Audi, and they are asking for the public's help in case anyone saw a car matching that description on the bridge about 1 a.m. Saturday morning.
The children's father reported them missing Friday night to Tualatin police. According to Portland police, Stott-Smith and the children's father share custody. Police did not identify the father.
The 7-year-old girl was in the water at least 30 minutes, police said.

According to this they had joint custody (or equal custody if he is in the home). However, it sounds like the father knew there was something very wrong or he would not have gone to LE to file a missing report on the children. If an AA had gone out the children were thought to be in immediate danger and they had all the information neccessary for such an alert...someone could have seen them and stopped her before she threw them off the bridge. Eldon Jay may still be alive, his sister would not be traumatized for life, and they could be safe with someone else.

 

[scandi]

So where was the GD AMBER ALERT?!?! :furious::furious::furious:

Oh man. I just read about this story on the front page of our newspaper.

http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/859651.html

I thought of you Scandi and your proximity to this. Then I saw this thread. Bless you as you try and give us news :blowkiss:

I've been over this bridge before. What the heck is wrong with these mothers? These people lately? Good Lord. How the heck can you throw your kids off a bridge? Oh never mind. How can you drown them in a car or bury them in a playground or throw them in a trashbag in the woods. I'm so utterly sick of this :furious::furious::furious:

I was thinking the very same thing SS and Breanna. Two children reported missing on Friday night. It doesn't say what time, but it is obvious the mother took them and so they would have car info.

They had joint custody which might be a factor, but if she was not in her right mind that would be another thing. I just saw a photo of her on TV, her mug shot, and she definitely looks disturbed - you can see it in her eyes and the way the muscles in her face were drawn tight. A pretty lady, maybe Slavic or Russian I would guess.

What is happening in our world where cases like this aren't stopped before they begin. If she would go that bazooka you would think there would be previous indicators and the court order should have been changed.


I am at a loss to express what I just heard on the news, that they don't know if the children were pushed in the water or jumped themselves. But it was off the bridge - 75' down to the water. The top of that bridge is the top of the railings along the road.

There was a lady living in a ultra posh houseboat right by the bridge who said she and her husband were sitting out on their deck and they heard a different kind of splash in the water, not just a regular splash, and they knew it was something they needed to call 911 about immediately which they did. This lady was besides herself as she kept saying there was nothing more that she could do.

Then the man who also lived nearby said he heard not cries, but moaning sounds and he got into his boat to follow the sounds. It was black on that water but it looked like glass on top, which might have helped him as he spotted something in the water. He said when he came up on them there was a small child face down in the water and another child laying on her back. He heard her moaning inbetween gulps of water and coughing and swept her into his boat along with the little guy. The little girl was incoherent and taken right away to the hospital where she is in serious condition at this time.

The thought of this mother pushing her children off that bridge is just an impossible thought. They would never jump on their own, do you think? xox

 

[scandi]

I didn't even think about an amber alert. Would they issue an amber alert if he was not the custodal parent? Don't know if he is or not just thought that could be why?

I keep thinking about that poor 7 yr old girl. My youngest will be 7 in july. she just learned to swim last summer and is not a strong swimmer. she is also afraid of the dark. I just cannot imagine how scared this poor child was out there in the dark, cold, and swift water knowing the one person she trusted threw her over. She was probably trying to save her brother along with herself. My heart just hurts for these babies.

Oh and LE should've let the jump. It would've saved tax dollars, and keep her from getting out and having more children to hurt. Seeing as the prison doors in our country are revolving.

Hi JnTexas, LE might not have realized this was the mother of the two children by that time - 7am. On the news tonight they said a relative told them who she was and where to find her.

I also wonder why the children were right next to each other after having been in the water over 30 min. I think the mother tied them together. It is a big river, the Willamette and they could easily separate and drift apart as it was kinda windy last night. IMO

 

[scandi]

Oh man. I just read about this story on the front page of our newspaper.

http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/859651.html

I thought of you Scandi and your proximity to this. Then I saw this thread. Bless you as you try and give us news :blowkiss:

I've been over this bridge before. What the heck is wrong with these mothers? These people lately? Good Lord. How the heck can you throw your kids off a bridge? Oh never mind. How can you drown them in a car or bury them in a playground or throw them in a trashbag in the woods. I'm so utterly sick of this :furious::furious::furious:

Reading your link Breanna I remembered something else. The citizen with the boat said they can not understand how this little girl lived through this, except they know she is a little fighter. The odds of surviving a fall like that and then not drowning are amazing. One lady there said the little guy Elden had quite a smack on the side of his face. He might have hit something on the top of the water. God Bless him.

 

[Kat]

I'm glad they found and arrested the Mother for doing this to her children. I'm unhappy that this little boy is gone now forever.

I gave it some consideration yesterday and I'm wondering if the little girl had a hold of her brother. They were in swift waters at night. She must have had a hold of him for them to have been found close together (gathered that from reading the articles about their rescue from a citizen).

My heart breaks for this little girl. Rest in Peace Eldon, and may the angels wrap their wings around your big sister and comfort and heal her heart.

 

[Liz]

Woman, 31, arrested after one child drowns, one rescued from Willamette

A 31-year-old woman faces charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder after her two young children were found in the Willamette River shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. One of the children, a 4-year-old boy, died.

Amanda Jo Stott-Smith's 7-year-old daughter survived. The girl is conscious and in serious condition at an area hospital, Portland police said at a news conference this evening.

More at link:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/two_children_found_in_willamet.html

What in the world is going on!? There must be something in the water because mother's are killing their children way too frequently! It's as if children are becoming as disposable as their diapers!

This poor little girl, to know that her own mommy attempted to kill her and actually succeeded in killing her little brother ... I just can't imagine!

 

[laura08]

http://www.katu.com/news/local/45924917.html here is a picture of the mother and more information. I wonder if the mother looks rough and distraught because she was caught and thought both of them babys would have died and then no one would have any proof of what she did to them. Or else she has some other reasoning perhaps. Poilce also are not revealing how they ended up in the water but said they did come from the bridge? Also from the article " Police were able to identify the children through a missing person's report filed by their father in Tualatin Friday night. Police said Stott-Smith had joint custody of the children with their father. Court records show she filed for divorce in March. Detectives said she has other children who are in protective custody and that she has a prior police record" So she has other children, I think she done this to get revenge on the father if infact the other kids are by different daddys. Just a thought. My sons father gets him every other weekend, beginning on Friday at 6 in the evening untill Sunday at 6. I'm thinking this father went to get the kids for his weekend for the court order and she told him she would give them to him later as time went on the father became worried and concerned because he knew it was his weekend and that could be how it became he reported them missing to police? She never got back to him and he felt in his heart something was wrong.

 

[AmandaBrown23]

I read somewhere that a family member called in saying the children may be relatives which led to the identification. Such a tragedy.

 

[Texas Mist]

Woman, 31, arrested after one child drowns, one rescued from Willamette

A 31-year-old woman faces charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder after her two young children were found in the Willamette River shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. One of the children, a 4-year-old boy, died.

Amanda Jo Stott-Smith's 7-year-old daughter survived. The girl is conscious and in serious condition at an area hospital, Portland police said at a news conference this evening.

More at link:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/two_children_found_in_willamet.html

What in the world is going on!? There must be something in the water because mother's are killing their children way too frequently! It's as if children are becoming as disposable as their diapers!

This poor little girl, to know that her own mommy attempted to kill her and actually succeeded in killing her little brother ... I just can't imagine!

there's a thread here that was started yesterday:

Homicide investigates case of boy dead and girl injured in Oregon river - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[Openmind]

There is something evil happening in this world with so many parents murdering their children. I would include a parent that murders a spouse and their children. The cruelty of how these parents murder their children is hard to comprehend. No matter what personal issues a parent is experiencing, why would any parent make their child suffer this kind of pain and horror? My heart goes out to this little girl. I pray her father has the courage and love to carry her through this terrible event. And my heart breaks for little Eldon that was too small to survive this cruel crime.

Why do we have so narcisstic brats that when the events in our lives do not go as they want they feel they must act out some horrible crime to show their anger. In the middle of their pity party, their children become a means to act out their selfish disappointment or anger. I don't want to read about someone wagging their finger at those outraged by these actions telling us how the mother was really a "good" mother. Good mothers would rather die themselves than let anything bad happen to their children. These mothers that claim that they feared no one would care for their children is really a statement the children did not provide to them the support and loved they wanted. Murdering their children not only eliminates a burden they don't want, but it also punishes the child and anyone else they feel has not given them the love they felt they deserved. Many people have been hurt in life by the actions of others and they do not murder or harm other. Instead, they work hard to create relationships that provide what they were not given.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I have zero sympathy for her since she just left. She would have never guessed one would survive no matter how they got into the water. It sounds to me since she did not take the other children, this was directly aimed at her ex and was done out of vengence. I am glad they arrested her so she will be brought to justice for what she has done. I prefer to see her live out her days in jail where she has to suffer. Suicide is too kind for the likes of her.

I wonder how many kids she has total? It is a miracle they are still alive today. Bless their hearts.

I am sure a defense attorney will claim Insanity, but she made a conscious decision on which children were to die, drove them to the bridge, facilitated the action, and made no attempt to rescue them. She showed some remorse by her failed suicide attempt meaning she knows right from wrong. She is more of a Susan Smith than an Andrea Yates to me.

 

[annemc2]

Oh how tragic! I was this on the news last night but there was no info (I think it was an old broadcast). Makes me furious and sad at the same time.

(btw - Hi Scandi!! long time no see- thanks for the updates! :blowkiss

 

[scandi]

Oh how tragic! I was this on the news last night but there was no info (I think it was an old broadcast). Makes me furious and sad at the same time.

(btw - Hi Scandi!! long time no see- thanks for the updates! :blowkiss

Hi Annemc, It's great to see you too! ;} I just woke up and haven't heard any news yet.

Last night in the comments section from an Oregon Live News article, a gal posted who said she was the neighbor of this family. She broke TOS and gave the name of the lilttle 7 yr old girl which is too bad, but she did say there is another sister. xox

 

[Openmind]

And while Portland police said Sunday the parents had joint custody of the children, Thomas said he'd been told by a member of the family that the children had recently been staying with other relatives. He also said a third child Stott-Smith had from a previous relationship was living with his father.

Source:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/girl_who_survived_fall_into_ri.html

 

[Brwnigirl]

That poor little girl..what horror..no wonder she couldn't stop screaming.

Why didn't you just throw yourself in the river lady?

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Hi Annemc, It's great to see you too! ;} I just woke up and haven't heard any news yet.

Last night in the comments section from an Oregon Live News article, a gal posted who said she was the neighbor of this family. She broke TOS and gave the name of the lilttle 7 yr old girl which is too bad, but she did say there is another sister. xox

Hmmm...the article says there was another boy. I guess it doesn't matter except to know the other child or children are safe from her.

I wish they would give more information on the father. I would like to know his situation and find out what made him fill out the missing persons report on Friday night.

 

[TaylorJ4]

I so, so wish there was a way to send a message to these parents who harm/kill their children that there are much better options...I want to shout out to them, CALL ME! I will get on a plane and bring your child home with me, and give or find them a good, loving home.

Woulnd't it be wonderful if we could form a network that would take unwanted/unloved children, no questions asked, and that abusive parents would find us?

 

[kittenish]

I so, so wish there was a way to send a message to these parents who harm/kill their children that there are much better options...I want to shout out to them, CALL ME! I will get on a plane and bring your child home with me, and give or find them a good, loving home.

Woulnd't it be wonderful if we could form a network that would take unwanted/unloved children, no questions asked, and that abusive parents would find us?

Here, you can take them to a hospital, but they'll end up in foster care and I'm not sure of the age limit.

More importantly, wouldn't it be grand if our foster care system was overhauled? Sure, some kids get into loving homes, but too many times they end up seeing more abuse and neglect.