Mom, Boyfriend Charged With Drowning Kids

[StPaulieGirl]

Of course a rational, intelligent murderer is going to consider forensic evidence.  Think Mafia.  These inhuman beings were probably worried about gas money and their next fix.  The more I think about it, the more I smell methamphetamine.

Actually, I think the youngest was a girl.  Hard to tell because they're all dressed alike.

[Helping Dad]

Sheriff says probe complex

 
     By TIM MITCHELL

 
   CLINTON – The mother of three children who drowned in Clinton Lake and her boyfriend have been arrested for the children's murder.
   DeWitt County Sheriff Roger Massey said Wednesday that Amanda Hamm, 27, and Maurice Lagrone Jr., 28, both formerly of Clinton, are being charged with nine counts of murder apiece, three counts in the death of each child, using different definitions of homicide.
   "The acts which caused the deaths of the children were exceptionally brutal and heinous, indicative of wanton cruelty," Massey said. "We have to speak for these three children, and we're going to do that."
   Hamm was arrested in Bloomington, and Lagrone was arrested in St. Louis, Massey said.
   The two are accused of driving or causing a car to go into Clinton Lake on Sept. 2, leading to the death of Hamm's children, Christopher Hamm, 6, a first-grader at Douglas Elementary School; Austin Brown, 3; and Kyleigh Hamm, 23 months.
   Massey said Amanda Hamm dialed 911 from a pay phone at the boat ramp at about 7:45 that evening. She told dispatchers a car had gone into the water with her children in it.
   Massey confirmed that the vehicle went into the water front first and settled in 4 feet of water.
   Sheriff's Deputy Bruce Randolph and Sgt. Tim Collins arrived four and a half minutes later, located the submerged car, opened the door and retrieved the children.
   "Even though it wasn't successful in the long term, they were the only ones who gave the children an opportunity to survive," Massey said. "They were able to get the children out of the car within a minute and a half to two minutes" of their arrival.
   Massey said there were infant seats in the car, but he wouldn't say whether any of the children were found in the infant seats.
   DeWitt County Coroner Alex Calvert pronounced both boys dead at 9:34 that evening at Dr. John Warner Hospital in Clinton.
   Their sister was airlifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where she was declared dead at 2:08 p.m. Sept. 3.
   Calvert said preliminary results of autopsies performed Sept. 3 on the boys and one performed Sept. 4 on Kyleigh by Dr. Bryan Mitchell in Bloomington indicated that all three children died of drowning.
   Massey wouldn't say how long the children were submerged.
   Hamm's mother, Ann Denison, said she thought her daughter was "a great mother."
   "She was with them all the time. I would never have dreamed in a million years that she would do something like this," Denison said today on NBC's "Today" show. "She knows I would have taken the kids."
   "I love my daughter, but I have to put that barrier around me because she took my three grandkids away from me," Denison said.
   When asked about Hamm's mental health, Denison said her daughter "had a lot of problems in her life," including low self-esteem. But she said Hamm was a good mother who was with her children all the time, and she said Lagrone seemed attached to the children as well.
   Denison said she liked Lagrone and that he seemed particularly attached to Kyleigh.
   "I wasn't crazy about the relationship only because he couldn't hold a job. Amanda was the one supporting them. So I did not approve of the relationship, but I accepted it," she said.
   After three months of investigations by the sheriff's department, the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Police, Massey said enough evidence had been gathered by Monday morning to arrest Lagrone and Hamm.
   "We weren't dealing with a situation where we had to find who done it," Massey said. "But we were dealing with a complicated situation of finding out what happened."
   Massey said the investigation included hundreds of interviews, with Lagrone, Hamm, family members, friends and others; studies by medical experts; and extensive testing of the vehicle under water at Clinton Lake with the help of divers from the Normal Police Department.
   "We got the vehicle running again to see what the capabilities of the vehicle were," Massey said. "We put the vehicle in the water several different times to document what the vehicle would do."
   Then Massey, DeWitt County deputies, Illinois State Police investigators and members of the U.S. Marshal's Violent Fugitive Task Force found Lagrone at a motel in northwest St. Louis near Lambert International Airport and arrested him at about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
   About that same time, other DeWitt County deputies and task force members went to a mission in Bloomington where Hamm was staying and arrested her.
   Lagrone and Hamm were then taken to the DeWitt County Jail, where each was being held on $5 million bond.
   "They were arrested without incident, and they both cooperated fully," Massey said. "There was no resistance."
   Massey said police used intelligence sources to keep track of the suspects' whereabouts over the past three months.
   "We kept tabs on where they were at, and we had the resources to arrest them at any time we wanted to," Massey said.
   Lagrone and Hamm were scheduled for their first court appearance this morning before Circuit Judge Steve Peters.
   Special Prosecutor Roger Simpson will ask a grand jury next week to indict the pair.
   Massey said it was important to go through the indictment process rather than hold a preliminary hearing because so much information might be released at a preliminary hearing that there could be an effect on potential jurors.
   Both Lagrone and Hamm face three counts of first-degree murder for each of the three children including:
   – An action with the intent to kill.
   – An action knowing the act will kill a person.
   – An action knowing the act will provide the strong likelihood of death.
   If convicted, Massey said Lagrone and Hamm could be sentenced to life in prison. He also said both of them would be eligible for the death penalty, but it would be up to prosecutors to decide whether to pursue the death penalty.
   Massey defended the length of time it took to get an arrest.
   "We said early on it was going to be a lengthy and thorough investigation, and it has been just that," Massey said.
   "Virtually every member of my staff here ... has been included with this case in one way or another.
   "We got some criticism up front because we weren't doing this quickly, and I think you are going to see there was a reason why we did things thoroughly."
   Simpson, a former Piatt County state's attorney, was appointed as special prosecutor in the case because Amanda Hamm's mother is a secretary for the DeWitt County state's attorney's office.
   Lagrone was originally charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license following the incident. But those charges were later dropped at Simpson's request.
   Massey said the DUI arrest was a procedure that police used to obtain evidence for the later murder arrests.
   Massey said the three children had three different fathers, each of whom was interviewed by police. Lagrone was not the father of any of the children.
   Court records indicate Lagrone was convicted in 1995 in McLean County for misdemeanor domestic battery and possession of drug paraphernalia.
   In July 2003, Lagrone received a citation in DeWitt County for not wearing a seat belt.
   The Associated Press contributed to this report.
   
 

[Indigo Mom]

Nah, I smell something stronger...I smell crack!  (Mr. B, I swear I will bamboozle you if you even GO THERE....LOLOLOL) I hate to judge a book by it's cover, but dude...did you see her boyfriend?  The fathers appear and sound to be decent, law abiding citizens, while the boyfriend looks like a fricken hood rat.  Sorry if I offended anyone, but DAMN.  

[Indigo Mom]

omg...they DID drown.  

My God.

[StPaulieGirl]

Thank you for the update!

Look at that time when the baby died.  14 hours after she was fished out of the water.

Their deaths are by drowning, so my theory of them being dead before hitting the water is wrong.  Buuuut, Mr. Lagrone was busted back in '95 for drug paraphernalia.  Big whoop de do....

There is something going on here.  Anyone know if there are Satanic cults in Illinois?  This is really pissing me off.  Ah, no comprende :-(

[StPaulieGirl]

The San Bernardino High Desert was officially rated the methamphetimine capital of the country about 10 yrs ago, so I'm going with speed.  I've seen it.  It's ugly.  Crack is a problem down here in the LA area.  Both drugs will spin your brains.

Where is the link for the pics????  I want to see what mommy of the year looks like.

[Helping Dad]

I agree that something is definetly going on here, just cant put my finger on it.  I also was thinking that they were dead before going in the water but I guess not.  How horrible!  I have been reading everything on this case since it is so close to my town but I cant figure it out.  

[Davy]

First ... info on the 3rd father (exerpt from newspaper) :

The father of the youngest child also said Thursday he knew Hamm wanted to move to St. Louis.

"She didn't think she could take all the kids with her, but I never thought anything would happen," Shane Senters told WCIA-TV.

Senters and other family members granted an interview with the Champaign station they often watch but declined to talk to other media. DeWitt County sheriff's detective Rick Hawn said the family and others in town were intimidated by the attention of dozens of print, radio and TV news organizations at Thursday's hearing.

***********************************************************

There are huge considerations everybody seems to be skipping over  that are MOST relevant to the deaths of these children.  The considerations listed below exposes the attitudes of that society.

Three different fathers and none with custody...never heard of such a thing.  Children and fathers are not protected by their judicial system.

Three separate paternal grandparents.  I suggest they may have a more truthful view of the hole bitch and the grand hole bitch.  Wonder where the hole bitch's father resides.

The hole bitch only offered the children to the grand hole bitch and not to any of the fathers.  The grand hole bitch would only take the school-age child...is that revealing !!

The grand hole bitch spoken words concerning xmas and birthdays in relation to the hole bitch's parenting skills is the reality of motherhood to these hole bitches.  REALLY !!  

Nine indictments after 3.5 months.  Home town hole bitch with known behavior problems (bu who who) and substantial connection to prosecutor.  SOB boyfriend  from outside the good-ole-boy community that does not look like any of them. Loving grand hole bitch 'supported' moving to STL to live with jobless boyfriend in a motel because he played with the kids.  LOTTA CRAP ! Sounds like the fix is in ... lesser conviction for hole bitch while SOB fries !! ?? !!  Assume SOB arrived (to rescue the kids) after the car went in to the water..this SOB needs legal representation from OUTSIDE the good-ole-boy system (and probably the state) in the worst way.  

Alcohol but no drug problems...uhmm ..probable meth queen !!
 

[StPaulieGirl]

[p]Davy...dead is dead.  Who the hell knows why the fathers didn't have those darling kids?  It won't bring those babies back to life.

[p]Assume SOB arrived (to rescue the kids) after the car went in to the water..this SOB needs legal representation from OUTSIDE the good-ole-boy system (and probably the state) in the worst way.

[p]Davy, you really should take your meds at the same time every day.  You've really outdone yourself with this latest rant.  Yes I surely do know your other screen handle.  Go crawl back into your basement room.
[p]forgot to close tags.

[p]Grrrr. but this post is pissing me off.

[Indigo Mom]

here's the mother

http://www.msnbc.com/news/1003797.asp

I saw the mans mug on the Today show yesterday, but can't find it on the web site.