Texas Stepmother and Biological Father Starves Son to Death
I know that evangelicals and other sorts of Christians often hold on to this perception that parenthood (and marriage) instantly makes a person more giving, mature, loving, ethical, and so on, but I’m not exactly clear if that stereotype carries over to STEP-parenting.
I’m not sure if their fallacious, idiotic, untrue stereotype applies only to biological parenting, or if they also feel that a woman who adopts a baby or who is step-parent to one also is bestowed the “she must be more godly and mature than a childless or childfree woman” perspective.
In the off chance there are any evangelicals out there who think any and all forms of motherhood automatically makes a woman more giving, loving, and moral, here’s an example that says “Nope” to that (Edit. After having read over more about this news story, it turns out the the boy’s biological father also played a role in starving him to death):
(By the way, even though I find babies and kids pretty irritating and don’t like being around them most of the time, and most Christians – and some Non Christians – would slam me for not having kids (never mind I was waiting for a husband to have kids with, I don’t believe in single parenting intentionally, like the Hollywood starlets who choose to get knocked up outside of matrimony), but – I would never intentionally harm a kid. If I do get married, and my spouse has a kid from a previous marriage, I would NOT abuse or neglect the kid.
It’s odd to me how society thinks motherhood instantly makes a woman more of an admirable, or a more trustworthy, figure, when we see from news stories like this one that children might actually be SAFER with childless or childfree women!
I would probably be a hyper-responsible parent if I ever did have a kid of my own, or was step parent to one (I said responsible, NOT helicopter. Helicopter parenting creates all sorts of problems for a kid). I sure as heck would NOT starve a kid to death, whether he was my own biological kid, a step kid, a neighbor’s kid, or whomever’s kid.
Some of these news sites have published a photo of the little boy who died from starvation – he looked like a very nice little boy.
(Link): Dallas stepmom found guilty in starvation death of boy, 10
- A Dallas woman was found guilty Tuesday of locking her 10-year-old stepson in a bedroom for months and starving him in 2011.
Elizabeth Ramsey, 33, faces up to life in prison for the death of Johnathan Ramsey, whose bones were found stuffed into a sleeping bag in an Ellis County creek bed in April 2012. He died the previous August.
…Johnathan’s father, Aaron Ramsey, was sentenced last year to life in prison for causing serious bodily injury to a child by starving his son.
Prosecutors said the Ramseys were both responsible for keeping Johnathan locked away and feeding him only military rations for several months.
…But defense attorney Paul Johnson said during closing arguments that Aaron Ramsey admitted to police that he kept his wife from calling 911 to save the boy.
“He didn’t just dominate his wife. He wanted to dominate his children,” Johnson said.
(Link): Texas woman found guilty of starving stepson to death
- By Marice Richter
DALLAS (Reuters) – A Texas woman was found guilty on Tuesday of starving her 10-year-old stepson to death and then dumping his body in a creek bed.
Elizabeth Ramsey, 33, faces up to 99 years in prison for her role in the 2011 death of Johnathan Ramsey. Her husband and the boy’s father, Aaron Ramsey, was sentenced to life in prison last year in the boy’s death.
The sentencing phase of the trial starts on Wednesday.
Ramsey’s lawyers had asked jurors to find her guilty of a lesser charge, arguing that Aaron Ramsey was the instigator and she was forced to participate in the crime.
Prosecutors blamed the couple equally for Johnathan’s death.
“Aaron Ramsey is a monster, but the one thing that defense counsel continues to leave out is that his wife, Elizabeth Ramsey, is also a monster,” prosecutor Jason Fine told jurors, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Witnesses described Elizabeth Ramsey as a habitual liar with a hot temper, the newspaper reported.
The boy’s skeletal remains were discovered in April 2012 after a month-long search.
At the time of their arrest, the couple confessed to locking the boy in a bedroom of their Dallas home and feeding him only bread and water as punishment for misbehavior, according to law enforcement officials.
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Related posts:
(Link): Childless and happy: The new tribe of women?
(Link): The Not Mom Blog: Childless by Chance Topic and Other Posts
(Link): Lies The Church Tells Single (and childless) Women (by Sue Bohlin)
(Link): When Adult Virginity and Adult Celibacy Are Viewed As Inconvenient or As Impediments
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