This post is very different for me and very hard for me to write because, #1, it’s terribly sad and #2, I’m FURIOUS over it. You can either read it here or watch the video or I’ll explain it in a nutshell.
This woman’s fiance was killed leaving her with a small son and another on the way. She met up with Lee Thomas Langworthy and the two of them set up house. She wanted a father for her boys. One night while she was making supper, her youngest son was in her bed taking a nap and Lee went in to get him but he wasn’t breathing. He was taken to the hospital and though there was slight bruising on his neck, it was pronounced after the autopsy that it was SIDS he died from.
A few weeks later she had put her other son to bed and got up the next morning and went to work without first checking on her sleeping baby. She called home later in the morning and Lee told her that her son was still sleeping. She pretty much freaked out telling him he shouldn’t still be sleeping and returned home to find her other son dead while the boyfriend acted unconcerned and was playing with her dog.
I’m not going to judge the mother. It’s not up to me. That right is up to someone in a much higher power. I did really enjoy my boys when they were sleeping and I did look in on them all the time. Even when they got to the age when I wouldn’t have needed to peek in on them, I still did. But that’s just me. I’m not saying anyone else has to do that. I’m not blaming, I’m just saying I’m different that way. Heck, if they still lived at home with me, I’d probably still peek in on them on my way to bed but I’m a known worrywart. Did you ever see Terms Of Endearment with Shirley McLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson? Before the movie even starts it shows the mom, McLaine, trying to see if her baby is breathing and she can’t tell so she pinches her and the baby cries so the mom is happy and goes to bed. I wasn’t that extreme but……..It was something that came to mind every now and then.
This woman is now married with 4 sons and this Lee person got 19 years in prison. The autopsy on the second boy showed that “someone stopped him from breathing” and Lee figured he’d get convicted of both murders so he plead guilty to the second one. He’s eligible for parole in 2012. There is no law that says anyone needs to be notified if he moves into a neighborhood with children. That is only in place for child molesters. ALRIGHTYTHEN! This woman wants there to be a law that will inform potential neighbors of his crime.
I need to borrow K. Trainor’s 2×4 from uglyassopinion to seriously hit someone over the head. I pretty much have steam coming out of my ears and my husband had such a tirade that I can’t even print what he had to say.
My question isn’t about notifying potential neighbors but it’s what in the name of all things holy are we doing letting this man out of jail? He killed two beautiful little boys. He got 19 years??? It doesn’t say how long he served but in my opinion, his lifetime wouldn’t have paid the price.
I know some of you will have plenty to say about this. So, what’s your take????
Us Girls..Our Views 
Deep breath……
Well, I don’t have a problem at all with judging this woman’s actions at all!
So she shacks up with a guy has one kid, still doesn’t see the value in marriage and gets knocked up again and her so-called fience is killed in a car wreck. That’s number one.
Next she is so desperate: “”It was hard for me. But I also, at the same time, wanted a dad for my kids,” . Well guess what! Her selfish, desperate desire to have help (shack up with a second guy)with her children lead directly to her choosing the murderer of her babies! Period!
I mean come on face it; 1998 her so called fience was killed and in 1999 she has this murderer in her bed “helping” her with her children! She cared more about having live in help than having a proper relationship with a man who would be a good role modle and daddy for her babies!! SHE should have been charged with child endangerment!
Yeh, sure she really loved and was so caring about her boys that she goes to bed at night, gets up the next morning, gets ready for work and never (not even once) looks in on her baby?! Give me a friggn break. This woman is all about what is most convient and less hassle for her.
“He was playing with my dog. He didn’t even seem to care. He was so cold and nothing … he didn’t come near me,”
Well good for her. It only took the murder of her second baby for her to see that there might just be something wrong with this brute! Un-friggn-believeable.
“I didn’t want to believe that I could let somebody hurt my child. The guilt is always there for me,”
Good! In this case guilt is earned!!!!!!!
This woman is dispicable and I (for one) am sick and tired of woman of this ilk never taking the responsibility for their selfish actions!!!
I say charge the…. woman with child endangerment.
Of course there should be a law to keep child killers away. Just like child molesters.
I wonder how long it was before she got into the relationship she is in now. Is she married? Do all four boys have the same dad?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Both of these people make me sick!
And what’s the deal with the Coroner? How about do your job right the first time. Maybe the second baby would still be alive today. Although the mom would have probably quickly chosen some other man to kill that one too.
But remember…. it’s all someone else’s fault.
This is a total catch 22 for me – depending on the person, their psychological inclinations, what drove them to do what they did etc… well it all depends on those things.
If this guy is a cold blooded murderer, psychopathic aerosol then yes he should remain behind bars because he will just do it again, he is a menace to society. But if there were other elements that led him to do what he did, if he is remorseful (genuinely) and has tried to make amends then who are we to stop him from trying to rebuild his life.
Perhaps I am wrong in saying this and this comment is going to be a long one (unintentional rhyming honest).
From experience we all do things that can be seen as wrong, some of us have even done things that are ilegal but what we do with them at the end of the day determines the consequences.
If that guy has a heart and the circumstances behind those killings were skewered by the mental state of that point in time he will carry that guilt and knowledge of what he has done till his death. That can be far worse than any prison sentence known to man.
I will tell you all something that perhaps I should one day write about, perhaps I will soon. When I was 16 I had a run in with a friends father, that part you know if you have read my blog. Thing is that at that point in time I had had enough of being taken advantage of and I spoke up to this mans family and helped them get a conviction against him.
It came out that he had done what he did to me to his two daughters, the courts found him mentally unstable and with huge psychological issues, he was sent to a mental institution. Thing is they helped him in there, they put him on the right meds and found out what was making him be the way he was.
I heard a couple of months ago from this friend that her father had been released after 14 years. His guilt for what he did destroys him each day and he is trying to make amends, people don’t trust him but he keeps on trying.
What I am getting at is, this man abused me and I am not upset that he has been released because he is trying to fix himself, trying to make amends and carries the guilt. If he showed no hint of any of that, if he denied the evilness of what he did I would then have a serious problem with his release so much so that I would probably put up posters telling people what a psycho the guy is.
It all depends on the person but no matter what, what they did is evil, sick and just plain heart breaking… above all else I don’t condone killing, abuse or anything else against another human just sometimes there is less black and white.
Do I have anger at this story? Yes, more than I can say.
Would I want to know he lives on my street? Probably and probably not.
Was that mother irresponsible? Yeah but in all honesty she sounds like she is pretty unstable as well – the courts should have given her a psychological evaluation as well…
Sorry for the long comment, it turned into a post on your post am so sorry 😦
You were the one mssc, that I KNEW this would really bother.
Sanity, don’t ever say your sorry for what you say here. Your home. Remember!!
Sanity, you have a heart of gold, but maybe because it’s your experience that you had a run-in with one of the minority who is remorseful enough to not repeat his crime. But statistically, it is very likely that someone who has done that before will do it again, and no matter how much sympathy I may (or may not) have for the perpetrator, I have more sympathy for innocent children who could be his next victim.
I too was a victim of molestation (age 12/13) and I was afraid to tell any adult, though I did warn my youthful neighbors to stay away from the guy. I still feel guilty that I never told on the guy, though I had my illogical reasons at the time. That guy should have been off the streets until he died. It’s just too easy to hurt innocent children.
In the present case, I do feel the mother was wrong. What was with that bruise? Yes, I feel the coroner also screwed up, though hindsight may be skewing my view. (Also, I strongly believe SIDS is over-diagnosed and all that, but that’s a whole other topic.) There have been other cases where a child died at the hands of a boyfriend where the mom had indications that things weren’t right, and the mom was prosecuted. So it’s not unheard of for moms to be held responsible for not protecting their children from others. I’m not sure why that didn’t happen in this case.
I don’t know why some moms don’t have enough maternal instinct or whatever to prioritize the protection of their children. I’m a single mom of two kids. I haven’t been in any kind of romantic encounter since before I got my girls’ referrals, and I am certainly not out looking for some miscellaneous man to be “a father for my children.” If I was picky before, believe me, it might be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a man to qualify as the father of my children. And I may not check in on my girls while they are sleeping, but if I leave in the morning, I say goodbye to them, even if I have to wake them up just for that. If they get a mark on their skin while on their nanny’s watch, I demand to know exactly how it got there. Not because I don’t trust the nanny, but because it’s my job as their mother to take care of every aspect of my children’s well-being, every minute of the day. I don’t need the law to tell me this is my job.
As for not letting the guy out of prison: well, first, don’t get me started on our penal system. What do you have to do in this country to get put away for life? It’s pretty hard to do. Just two miscellaneous murdered children – we’re lucky this guy was in there as long as he was. But let’s just say for argument’s sake that he got out “early” because he was “remorseful.” I don’t care how remorseful he is. I don’t agree that the point of our penal system is purely rehabilitation. It’s also supposed to be a deterrent. Anyone can make up a sob story about why he is a better person now and all that crap. What’s to stop the next scumbag from doing the same thing? This guy “was” a cold-blooded killer who showed no remorse at all at the time of his crime. That’s all I need to know. Throw away the keys.
I’m going to post and then go back and read so if I ditto what somebody else says then “ditto” ahead of time.
I say the mother should have at least been held with some responsibility. Oh my gosh..had that happened to one of my children I would have so totally freaked out the second child would have been lucky if I hadn’t been sleeping with them with a mirror under their nose.
NO we shouldn’t be letting him out of prison but as far as I’m concerened..why is this mother off living a “new” life with “new” family without even being considered a player in the crime?
Now I’ll go back up and read. Btw…I have a 17 year and a 21 year old still at home and it’s not uncommon for me to check on them.
Ok totally agree with SKL…I am not sure anything gets you life anymore does it? And really what’s life? These @%$%#^ holes are put up in fancy housing cells that have more amenities than where they were probably living before. That’s off topic but another thing that grates my nerves. Why are we so hell bent on providing comfort to criminals? Did they provide any comfort to their victims? HELL NO! So let’s get them a Comfort Number Bed, Their own toilet and shower area that’s way better than anything I’ve owned…a gym, sometimes a pool, cable or dish tv, computers blah blah blah..I know because I know somebody in prison..he’s even said he’s better off in there. Dude went to prison for stealing some lottery tickets..(they weren’t even winners)..but he’s in there for 5 freaking years…for that and this buttsmear is out in 19 for killing 2 kids? Let’s do the math on that.
wow this could bust a vein for me! I better stop. The whole justice system in this country is wack!
I generally read everyones comment before commenting myself. I didn’t want my opinion swayed one way or the other.
For one, drug dealers get more time than this sometimes! Just sick! As far as I’m concerned he took two lives, he should serve two life sentences…at least! In all honesty his life should be taken, why should we have to pay for him his crimes. Our tax money goes to their cable, food, exercise equipment?? WTF is wrong with that?
I’m like Joy, I have always and will always check on Bailey. Now if I had one child die of SIDS you can bet your ass I’d be even more protective and paranoid. Should this mother be punished For what? Stupidity?? In a perfect world, yes, unfortunately I’m pretty sure the only punishment she will get is living without her 2 babies. This story breaks my heart and infuriates me all at the same time.
So he gets out in 3 years? I don’t call that justice for those babies!!!
Too freakin’ mad…can’t even comment!!!!!
When my daughter was three weeks old she slept from about 11:30 at night until 5:30 in the morning. I woke up and was scared to death because she normally woke after about 4 hours. I woke her up to be sure she was alive even though I could see her breathing. She actually started doing this on a regular basis. She was my first child and I was still scared of her. I was convinced she had a cold the first week she was home because she sneezed once. I was even running a humidifier. She didn’t have a cold. I know I have always been paranoid about my kids but I would rather be that way then take any chances.
I know with my upcoming grandchild I will still be paranoid. I think my daughter is happy about that.
I don’t think you can ever be too careful with your kids. This story horrifies me and I am so glad I don’t have to worry about anything like that happening. My son-in-law and daughter are going to make great parents.
I do not think I have the words to express all the feelings this post has overwhelmed me with. My only granddaughter died of a SIDS-type death at 7 months. The baby’s father who was present at the time of death, had another baby die of a SIDS-type death at about the same age. That baby was with a different woman. While there were never any charges pressed, I feel like there could be more truth than I will ever know. I will never forget the sound of my daughter’s voice telling me over the phone that the baby had died. Nor will I ever forget the 3 hour drive it took to get to where she and one of my grandsons were living at.
My opinion is that anyone who commits a crime against children should be punished more harshly than any other crime. Frankly, I don’t care about their mental state. Murders against children should be punishable by death. Other crimes should be life-long imprisonment. When we stop slapping people on the wrist for this kind of thing–and show that we are serious about these types of crimes–I predict we would see a drastic drop in the number of these crimes committed.
Oh G-Ma, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say other than that. I do agree with you though.
There is no law that murderers of people have to be labeled, no matter what age. They could be old people too… still disgusting. But the guy could get away after 10 years in prision and move next to an old age home..
Unfortunately we have to watch ourselves for knee jerk reactions too. I know Im not going to be popular here but sometimes we get so upset that we enact laws that really are in our detriment after incidents like this.
For example… in England a doctor went around killing over 100 old people with lethal injection of morphine. Its something they had in their doctor’s bag. Well… knee jerk reaction, take away the morphine right? Wonderful. Well then you get a patient who is in crisis who goes in to needing that to save their lives, but because of regulations and red tape now needs 3 doctors to sign off to get an injection and no one wants to put their name down.
Just be aware… that these incidences are small. They are disgusting and hard. I want to rip the guy’s head off. I want to rip the mother’s head off tbh…but… we have to be realistic here. We cant place laws for ever eventuality. We’d restrict our own freedoms too much and become a police state. Remember that.