I'm grateful for any bit of info, no matter how small, even if it is disheartening, because it may indicate that we might be one step closer to the truth and to Sky.
Ugh, the thought of him starving to death is horrible, as someone supposed up thread. You know, reading how he touches all of us here, how everyone wants to envision him warm and safe and happy, how no one can understand how he couldn't have touched his mother's heart, well, frankly, I'm thinking she must have been very ill not to have put this little baby first, to not have protected him and lived to make him happy.
I'm not a psychologist. I don't know how this works, so it's hard to me to understand. I remember first hearing about Andrea Yates and I was steadfast in believing that she is evil. I thought, I don't care how mentally ill a person is, mother's instinct should have broken through the fog of psychosis at some point as she drowned all five of her children, one by one. Some instinct should have prevented those murders, or at least stopped her from continuing on.
But then I read a book about the case and gained a new perspective. I can't say that I understand it or such serious mental illness, but I realized I was probably missing something and needed to try to understand. Because Andrea Yates now essentially lives in hell, in an endless cycle of getting stable mentally on medication, then realizing what she's done and going crazy again. It is horrific and it made me realize how sick she actually must have been.
I can't actually categorize Julia the same way, though, because she didn't call the police and calmly announce what she did. She is hiding what happened, hiding Sky and continuing to cause heartbreak. That tells me she is cognizant to some degree of the wrongfulness of her actions and lucid enough to try to get out of trouble.
Yet, her husband warned that she was severely mentally ill and that something like this could happen and it did. I wish those with psych backgrounds could explain a bit more how mental illness could cause something like this and if so, how ill can a person be if they are hiding what they've done, what would the possible cycle be if a person killed a child during psychosis, or allowed a child to die because their illness was too powerful for them to care for the child, etc., what happens after such an event in their minds? My instinct tells me that we will hear more from such people. That their illness will prevent them from keeping quiet. I want to know what the professionals can say. Rougelatete? Anyone else?
Well, of course, this is a tough question to answer, Gitana! And, it's all my opinion, but....
I, personally, think JB's situation is quite different from Andrea Yates. Andrea was suffering from psychosis and had lost touch with reality. Andrea called the cops on herself and firmly believed she had done what was in the best interest of the children. Hers was true psychosis. With JB, we have no evidence of a psychotic break and I doubt we ever will (I also don't believe she had a psychotic break or any type of ongoing psychotic disorder -- but I, of course, can't diagnose her via the internet so it's just my opinion based on court documents, her post-disappearance behavior, etc.)
A psychotic break at the time of Sky's disappearance would be challenging to prove for an insanity defense because she was not psychotic (or psychotic "enough") at the time LE showed up at the car for a missing baby -- if she was, then they would have taken her in right away for a Section 12. We know they didn't.
Also, there have been no stories released about witnesses seeing her behaving strangely during that time so it sounds like, as of now, there's really no evidence to back up a psychotic break for JB. Andrea, on the other hand, had a long history of it being documented, many witnesses, and -- as you mentioned -- she is tormented during the times when she is lucid by the fact that she did this. I don't get the sense that JB is tortured by Sky's disappearance at all.
I'm guessing that JB either starved Sky (and not M) because she is a vengeful woman who was railing at her ex-husband (or killed Sky another way) -- and this might lend itself to mental illness in terms of a personality disorder but would not back an insanity plea. Or, that Sky died as a result of neglect either by starving or getting into an accident while unsupervised. If this is the case, it may or may not have had anything to do with her OCD and other mental health issues. We do know that JB had a history of neglecting her children's need for food as a result of her OCD and I, also, am curious about M's state when removed from the home. I believe JB was always aware of what she was doing but may have been powerless to stop her OCD compulsions. But, there's no evidence of her being legally insane.
If Sky died as a result of improper supervision -- such as during the 12-hour mediation, then I believe that may have had less to do with OCD and falls more in line with JB possibly having a personality disorder (which I have believed pretty much all along). As we also know, JB is very self-serving and will go to great lengths to get what she wants -- including filing numerous false and disgusting allegations and updating her flickr account after her child's disappearance/death so that she can look like the perfect mom.
I must say, I am infinitely more sympathetic to Andrea Yates and other moms who kill their children while suffering from psychosis. I'm not all that sympathetic toward JB, as I think she's quite a different case. Quite a calculating, deceptive, self-serving woman, indeed.
