The dilemma she faced is a terrible one for a mother. Does she follow what she believes to be God's will, or does she turn her back on God?
- Defense Attorney Buck Files
Is there something in the water here in Texas? Perhaps I'm missing something, but it does seem that this state has more than it's share of women who go off the deep end in a big way. Killing their children, murdering their husbands with expensive luxury vehicles...I'm not sure it gets any stranger than this.
Our latest candidate for Not Mother of the Year is Deanna Laney, a 39-year-old mother of three. Well, she used to be the mother of three. In fact, she still would be if she hadn't bashed in the heads of her three kids with a rock. Why, you might ask, did she do this? Well, silly, because God told her to. In her world, when the Man Upstairs asks you to do something, your response is not to ask why, but when, how, and for how long. Unfortunately, no one will ever question the strength of Laney's faith. Her grip on reality, though...well, that clearly is an open question.
Granted, I may not have been paying much attention to what I was force-fed in Sunday School, but I do believe that God has only done this once, and that was to Abraham- and He didn't even require him to follow through. For whatever reason, Deanna Laney believed that the world was coming to an end, and that she needed to get her affairs in order. How accomplishing that involved killing her children is something I'm not certain I will ever understand.
Mrs. Laney may well have been as crazy as a march hare. She may have honestly believed that she heard the voice of God telling her to commit these heinous. Even so, where were the other people in her life? Surely she wasn't living in a vaccuum. Where was her husband, her family, her friends? Were none of them available or paying attention? I can't help but wonder if this tragedy couldn't have been prevented if only someone had bothered to pay attention.
Six-year-old Luke and and eight-year-old Joshua Laney are dead by the hand of their mother. Then-15-month-old Aaron was left with pemanently impaired vision and he will never be able to live independently. Somehow, I don't think that this was what Deanna Laney's version of God had in mind.
I do understand the likelihood that Mrs. Laney was not in her right mind at the time of the murders. That doesn't mean I can't find her act despicable and her lack of contrition deplorable. There are women out there who would do almost anything for the privilege of giving birth to even one child, and Deanna Laney kills hers? Every time I convince myself that I'm not going to make an argument for eugenics, something like this comes along. It makes me wonder why we allow just anyone to bear a child, no matter what the mother might be dragging with her. There is, of course, no answer for that question, and even if there were, I'm not certain that it wouldn't be worse than the system (or lack thereof) that we have now.
There ought to be a special place in Hell for people like Deanna Laney. If there is any justice in this world, there will be.
