Troubles had mounted for mother suspected of killing two daughters

[madmusic]

Source: LA Times

On Wednesday morning, Edith and her big sister, Diana Moreno, 17, were found dead, their throats slashed. On Friday, their mother, Antonia Gomez, 38, was arrested on suspicion of killing her daughters.

Edith was found in a house in the 7800 block of Irvine Avenue. Her sister was found in a converted garage in the back, along with their mother, who was hospitalized with knife wounds to her body and wrists. A 14-year-old daughter who was not at the house when the killings happened was taken into protective custody.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-girls-slashed5-2009sep05,0,2988341.story

[undeterred]

1. What a sad, sad story.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. Yeah, happened not too far from me

[MadMaddie]

2. What a sad story!

Mental illness needs to be addressed in this country.

[Th1onein]

3. She didn't have money, she didn't have a job, and sometimes they didn't have food," she said.

I bet she had some SSRI medication, though.

[prolesunited]

5. Or perhaps she didn't have the meds or counseling she needed

Or are you trying to convince those who may benefit from meds that it will turn them into killers?

[Th1onein]

7. This lady had mental problems already.

SSRIs on top of that is a recipe for disaster. How much you want to bet some well-meaning doctor gave them to her to treat her depression?

[eggplant]

6. WTF? n/t

[marshall]

4. Where was the husband?

If he had reason to believe his daughters were in danger he should have removed them from the situation.

[mackerel]

8. There may not have been a Father present in their lives.

They've cut the funding back here in California and those on SDI, SSI and medicare have had decreases in their settlements and their medical. If she qualified for any of those she may have been cut short on payments. If she was trying to get assistance there is a very long backlog and her paperwork may be somewhere just sitting on someone's desk.

[Thothmes]

9. An assumption that he cares about the situation.

[haele]

10. The ages between the mother and the oldest daughter are infuriating-

Since there is no mention that Ms. Gomez was a step mother or an adoptive mother, she must have been 11 when she had her oldest daughter. Even the younger one at 14, the mother would have been the same age as the poor girl - 14 - when she had her.
Whether or not the girls were her natural children, there appears to have been a lot of problems in that family, that obviously needed some sort of support beyond that which a potentially broken, abused mother who obviously grew up too fast could "be a grownup and take responsibility for" :sarcasm: and provide.

From the article, she may have wanted to take responsibility for her family; she apparently precieved everything going so far out of control, that she felt it would have been better for the girls to be out of it than go through the pain she was going through.


Haele

[sammytko]

11. The mother was 38, not 28

The oldest daughter was 17 - a 21 yr difference.