Send Them to Heaven

I used to be a believing and devout member of a faith that taught that children were not accountable for their sins until the age of 8. If they died before the “age of accountability”, they would go straight to the highest level of heaven.

As I gradually stopped believing in this particular faith, I was struck by how potentially dangerous this teaching is. I suspected it could influence a person with mental illness in ways that the church did not intend. Could someone interpret that teaching to mean that the greatest act of love for a parent would be to sacrifice their own salvation to ensure the salvation of their children?  IOW, be willing to go to hell for murder, while sending your children to heaven?

I believe that Patsy killed JB during a psychotic episode triggered by the combination of diet supplements with ephedra and the shock of discovering JB was being molested. I don’t know how intense the psychotic episode was. Was she completely out of her mind, hearing voices? Or did she just dive into completely irrational thinking, such as “I need to save JB from this life of sin and pain.” I suspect the latter, but who knows.

Patsy would not be the first parent to save their child by sending her to heaven. Here are some other cases.

1.      Brittany Medina, after taking suboxone, Xanax, and cocaine, drowned her two young children in the bathtub to send them to heaven, to spare them being kidnapped and put in a dark hole.  https://fox59.com/indiana-news/send-them-to-heaven-indiana-woman-confesses-to-drowning-her-children-says-voices-told-her-to-do-so/

2.    Arzel Ivery strangles his two young children after killing their mother, telling them their mother wanted them to be with her in heaven. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/milwaukee-man-told-2-kids-mom-wanted-them-heaven-strangling-n1138186

3.    Esther Callejas killed one of her children and put the other in intensive care, telling police she wanted them to go to heaven. https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/she-wanted-them-to-go-to-heaven-south-phoenix-mother-accused-of-shooting-her-2-young-children

4.    Amber Pasztor smothered her two young children to send them to heaven. “I gave them a choice,” she told WANE. “They could live traumatized like their mom or they can go to heaven with God and be better off.” https://people.com/crime/theyre-in-heaven-now-indiana-mother-says-she-smothered-her-two-children-to-send-them-to-a-better-place/

5.    LeRoya Moore murdered her children, leaving a note saying she was sending them to heaven. https://abc7ny.com/child-homicide-mom-murder-case-mother-connecticut/777262/

 This was just page one of my google search. I looked up this one specifically because I remembered it:

6.    Tanya Adams throws her children off a bridge so they could go to heaven. https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article32221029.html

Obviously, I could go on for pages. Sadly, this type of psychosis is not uncommon.