PA - Kenzie Houk, 26, pregnant, murdered, Wampum, 20 Feb 2009

[passionflower]

http://www.heraldonline.com/wire/nation/story/1152434.html

more photos...........no obit yet.......

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09054/951008-85.stm

The district attorney is open to suggestions.
"I want to listen to what anybody and everybody has to say. I want to protect the boy and protect the witnesses and the community. I'm not the DA guy that says, 'I want to lock him away and I don't [care].' I probably won't be totally comfortable with whatever happens, but this decision will stay with me the rest of my life. I have to be able to live with it."

more at link

Thanks for the link Linda. I'm liking this DA, he sounds like his head is in the right place.

 

[Lovejac]

I wonder what time it was set for ? Looks to me like the mother wasnt up with the kids when the kids were getting ready for school - also looks like the 4 yr old was up when the other 2 children were getting ready to go to school. Nobody heard the alarm ?
Who made their breakfast ? especially the 4 yr olds breakfast ?
What time did dad leave ?

I have lots of questions, too. The one first and foremost on my mind is where is his bio mother?

 

[Lovejac]

I think of fluffy as chubby. Chubby is not obese. If you have a child with a weight problem, what you call it is probably the least of your worries (though how you say it to the child is, of course, very important).

The face of this child looked a little chubby, I think.

Call me fluffy any day of the week, nicer than fat, chubby or obese, those would make me cry!

But seriously, his weight or how we describe his build, is the LAST thing on my mind!

 

[Boyz_Mum]

I have lots of questions, too. The one first and foremost on my mind is where is his bio mother?

I haven't read anything about the bio mom~ this question has been asked before, has anyone heard anything?

 

[SuziQ]

The scary thing is I have watched several prison interviews with kids who killed their parents or someone close to them in their own homes.

None of them showed remorse or regret. They talk in a monotone expressionless voice as if the subject is boring to them. They tell the interviewer they never think about the loved one they brutally murdered.

It scares me to death to even watch them.

imoo

And that is about as scary as you can get. I don't see how a child like that can be helped.

 

[Trino]

I wonder what time it was set for ? Looks to me like the mother wasnt up with the kids when the kids were getting ready for school - also looks like the 4 yr old was up when the other 2 children were getting ready to go to school. Nobody heard the alarm ?
Who made their breakfast ? especially the 4 yr olds breakfast ?
What time did dad leave ?

Don't know about the dad, except he received a call from work. As to breakfast, many, many kids get it at school these days. The 4 year old? Who knows what she thought as she watched TV for a while before going to her mother.

 

[Trino]

If a child that premeditated murders and made considerable effort to conceal his guilt doesn't spend any time in detention of some kind....isn't a little crazy to lock up a kid that just steals a car for a joy ride? Or any one of the countless other things children are held in detention for?

Should there be no juvenile detention at all? Just a little therapy and maybe the kid will lose his desert for a week?

Good statement/question. I just don't believe this boy should walk away with no detention time. Of course, I didn't believe the AZ boy should have either. Guess we'll have to see how this plays out, but it seems like jealousy on the boy's part.

 

[beckaroozie]

Police: 11-Year-Old Kills Dad's Pregnant Girlfriend, Goes to School
Posted By: Talia Naquin Created: 2/21/2009 10:43:17 PM Updated: 2/21/2009 10:44:11 PM

WAMPUM, PA (AP) -- Authorities say an 11-year-old boy shot his father's pregnant girlfriend in the back of the head while she was lying in bed in their western Pennsylvania farmhouse, then got on the school bus and went to school.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/mostpopular/news-article.aspx?storyid=131919&provider=top

 

[Velouria]

And that is about as scary as you can get. I don't see how a child like that can be helped.

I wholeheartedly agree. And I know I'm probably in the minority here, but that little boy's mugshot sent shivers up my spine. Perhaps it's just the lighting, but there is something very cold and void about the way he stares into the camera...

Frankly, I'm infuriated that the Jonesboro shooters have been released after being tried as juveniles for mass murder - one has recently been in trouble for drug possession and gun violations. Then there's the case of Lionel Tate, who supposedly didn't understand the gravity of his actions and was given a second chance. I believe he's serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery now.

How do we "rehabilitate" these children into having a conscience?

 

[Linda7NJ]

I wholeheartedly agree. And I know I'm probably in the minority here, but that little boy's mugshot sent shivers up my spine. Perhaps it's just the lighting, but there is something very cold and void about the way he stares into the camera...

Frankly, I'm infuriated that the Jonesboro shooters have been released after being tried as juveniles for mass murder - one has recently been in trouble for drug possession and gun violations. Then there's the case of Lionel Tate, who supposedly didn't understand the gravity of his actions and was given a second chance. I believe he's serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery now.

How do we "rehabilitate" these children into having a conscience?

You can't IMO

 

[southcitymom]

I wholeheartedly agree. And I know I'm probably in the minority here, but that little boy's mugshot sent shivers up my spine. Perhaps it's just the lighting, but there is something very cold and void about the way he stares into the camera...

JaneInOz had a similar reaction to it, Velouria. To me, people in mugshots always look miserable and half-crazed.

PS - welcome to WS!!!

 

[Boyz_Mum]

You can't IMO

Please know that I'm not disagreeing with you, but as parents do we have a role in developing their conscience's (sp?) In your opinion?

It's hard to think that some of our population is *gone* before they are born (and it's hard to believe we have no power to change that).

 

[Boyz_Mum]

JaneInOz had a similar reaction to it, Velouria. To me, people in mugshots always look miserable and half-crazed.

PS - welcome to WS!!!

To see a child with that "half-crazed" look is frightening- even in a booking photo. I guess I would expect to see a "scared look" vs a half crazed look.

 

[southcitymom]

To see a child with that "half-crazed" look is frightening- even in a booking photo. I guess I would expect to see a "scared look" vs a half crazed look.

I hear you - that's why I'm not good at getting impressions from those things - scared looks half-crazed to me!

 

[southcitymom]

Please know that I'm not disagreeing with you, but as parents do we have a role in developing their conscience's (sp?) In your opinion?

It's hard to think that some of our population is *gone* before they are born (and it's hard to believe we have no power to change that).

I relate to this. One of the things I believe Linda7NJ has been trying to impress (or maybe she hasn't, but it's what I'm getting from some of her thoughts) in these threads (about young children killing) is that sociopaths come in that way. That is the prevailing psychiatric wisdom on the subject from all reputable points.

Psychiatry being a "soft" science and me being a big believer that ALL humans possess the capacity to become better, I allow my mind to remain open to possibilities outside the realm of what we "know scientifically."

Hell - for years we thought Pluto was a planet. :crazy: Who can say what we might learn or unlearn about the sociopathic mind in the days ahead of us?

That is not to say that either this boy or the 8-old-boy ARE sociopaths. We can only speculate about that. It is certainly a very fair area to explore when children this age do something so unthinkable.

 

[Duelist Pearl]

You can't IMO

So what should be done for a child of 11 that kills somebody, just give up on him. Their is alot we don't know about this case.
MOO

 

[concernedperson]

To see a child with that "half-crazed" look is frightening- even in a booking photo. I guess I would expect to see a "scared look" vs a half crazed look.

That is the case when sociopathy is noticed.I used to think that children could be rehabilitated but I know now that they cannot. I think it is the bad seed thing again.It is a part of science that is still a mystery. Science needs to work on that.

It goes along with dementia. Not just being forgetful but a total wasting away of any controls. In later years it is a terrible thing to see but a progression of life with dementia.

There is a neuron process in both illnesses that triggers behaviors. I truly believe this. I wish I was more scientific to study it but alas I am just a regular person.

 

[Boyz_Mum]

I hear you - that's why I'm not good at getting impressions from those things - scared looks half-crazed to me!

When my kids are afraid, I see a certain look in their eyes that isn't the defiant look that crazed people seem to have. Shoot, I'm not good at "reading people" at all, but the picture of this boy doesn't even seem to give the impression he's confused- he just has that cold look.

 

[southcitymom]

That is the case when sociopathy is noticed.I used to think that children could be rehabilitated but I know now that they cannot. I think it is the bad seed thing again.It is a part of science that is still a mystery. Science needs to work on that.

It goes along with dementia. Not just being forgetful but a total wasting away of any controls. In later years it is a terrible thing to see but a progression of life with dementia.

There is a neuron process in both illnesses that triggers behaviors. I truly believe this. I wish I was more scientific to study it but alas I am just a regular person.

Hey concerned! As I said in my earlier post, I understand that the prevailing scientific wisdom is that sociopaths come in this way and that child sociopaths are beyond our help.

Do you think some of the mystery of science could be that we have just haven't yet discovered a way to help people with the spectrum of behaviors/attitudes/etc... associated with sociopaths? What we know today may not be what we know tomorrow.

I am incapable of giving up on any human being, regardless of the terrible things they might do. That said, I do believe that people who are obviously dangerous need to be out of society's way to protect the rest of us from potential harm. But I do think we should continue to reach out to them. I do not consider them beyond help ever.