Why Would a Mother Do This? | Law & Order

[@Lovetsonmarq]

Post partum depression is a very dangerous and fragile condition to deal with. Mothers often due to hormonal imbalance often have rapid mood swings and intrusive behaviour and hallucinate . Many mothers aren't equipped to deal with child rearing. Its sad really but we have to be kind to a suffering person

[@jerricablackcat4303]

The look on that priest's face at the end.

[@Cor6196]

That look suggests that he might not believe in the literal truth of “with God in Heaven.” The words that serve as a solace to grieving parents get turned into ghastly shocks when the parents themselves are the murderers. I can’t quite fathom why we respond differently to the “natural” death of a child from, say, cancer, and the child who dies with a bullet in its brain. I know we do, but if they both end up in heaven, shouldn’t we be happy for both?

[@IrinaC524]

@Ed Esso, well, one is wholly preventable and borne out of malice. Surely you see s difference between a child being maliciously murdered and a child dying of cancer?

[@Cor6196]

@@IrinaC524 Not from the point of view of the child, which is the only point of view that I’m concerned with. Whether a child is killed by a bullet in the head or by cancer of the brain, the end result is precisely the same: a dead child. And to, say, Christian parents, the result is the same in that they both end up in heaven. To an atheist, they’re both lying lifeless in the grave. Don’t confuse these two scenarios with the emotional responses of the parents and other loved ones, whose intensity of emotion might (or might not) differ in each case. Whether the child is killed by a murderer or in a catastrophic accident or by physical illness may make YOU respond differently too, but I don’t see how it can make any difference to the child, who no matter the cause is now in the same state as any other dead child, namely dead. I think you may be thinking about this from your point of view and expressing your sense of how different you would feel in each case - say, reading a dozen different reports of children who’ve died in accidents or of neglect or starvation or abuse or a physical illness, etc. But death itself, the state of not being alive, is exactly the same in all cases.

[@TheBreechie]

@@Cor6196 what a silly argument you put up. A child dying of cancer isn’t terrified of their parent as a child being murdered would be so from the child’s perspective things ARE different. Your foolish statements of being an atheist and the state of death being the same for all is not a case of perception for the dead person, they’re dead, remember!?$? The perception belongs to others and your argument falls down very fast

[@IrinaC524]

@@Cor6196 your original comment literally asked why we respond differently in each scenario. In any case, child dying absolutely terrified because it's being shot at, will experience death very differently to a child dying from cancer in its parents' loving arms. Meanwhile, a child dying after being hit and abused by its parents' will also experience death differently. Our responses are different in each scenario but so are the children's experiences. Yes they may end up in heaven but a child dying terrified and calling out for help during its last moments on earth should never happen. That's largely preventable except in accidents and natural disasters.

[@joshifereverlark8605]

Her blaming a '20 year old Puerto Rican guy' just reminded me of that South Park episode where the parents think they've killed their kid and to cover it up they blame it on 'some Puerto Rican guy', along with all the other parents who've committed similar crimes lmao

[@One.DeSanctis.]

The Ramsay parents, Gary Condit and O.J.? That episode originally aires, what 15 years ago?

[@MrRyukage]

Susan Smith was a woman who drowned her 2 boys by driving a car in a creek. I think episode was based on her,As well Sherly Billinger on the show OZ. That character was only woman prisoner because there was no death row facility her.

[@roxannesharbono994]

Susan smith

[@anthonyandrew6037]

Cause people seem to go with the simplest solution to a problem Cause they don't want to be seen as wrong

[@lebogololo586]

Yeah: OJ and the Ramsays are guilty

[@jar7840]

Mentioning the World Trade Center isn't odd. This episode aired In 95/96. In 93, about three years prior there was a bomb detonated at the world trade center.

[@starlingswallow]

Yep. 👏🏻

[@haven_lady675]

But still it's disturbing foreshadowing

[@ponygon777]

This reminds me of the Bricoe and Logan episode with another missing baby that turned out to be killed by their parent. the killer's motives are just as sick and twisted as this monster in the video.

[@marthashaebanyan-bady4259]

Generally when babies or toddlers are killed or go missing it turns out to be one or both of the parents who did it.

[@TheCamdog9]

Fun fact: this was adapted into the Law and Order UK episode "Safe". Mostly the same plot but in that episode, it was a two year old boy instead of a baby girl. And the mother made up the kidnapping story at a merry go round rather than at a church.

[@sdaiwepm]

Presumably not a Puerto Rican man, then. What ethnicity did she choose?

[@TheCamdog9]

@@sdaiwepm In the UK version, she put the blame on her ex boyfriend, which turned out to be a lie as he was elsewhere meeting someone that would help him get custody of his son as the mom was withholding his son from him. And it was revealed that the mom had a new boyfriend that was abusive to the son. So at the end during the trial, the mom revealed that after a particularly bad beating of the son from the boyfriend, the mom smothered her son to give him peace from his pain.

[@sdaiwepm]

@@TheCamdog9 How sad. And thanks for filling me in.

[@luvlylady55]

I guess in her mind she was doing what she thought best for her baby.. for her not to grow up in this chaotic world..full of hate, violence.. but still..it was a horrific crime.. to take the life of your own child..

[@hmacklemore2226]

She was mentally ill and butchered her child. The world has always had hate and violence... no excuse or reason.

[@francinepowell9027]

She coulda just used a condom

[@jamjar5716]

What she did was worse than any crime she described.

[@rubaiyat300]

Its basically the backstory of the main villain of a short-lived Fox show 'Brimstone.' An ancient priestess sacrificed her daughter, but she did it to spare her the horror of growing up and growing old in a Bronze age society. And her afterlife was fine cause those were the standards of her faith, only then belief changed over the millenia and suddenly what she did was an abominable crime, and her soul went to hell judged by new laws and a new faith.

[@alexisgrunden1556]

_Severe_ PPD induced psychosis would be my guess, but I'm not a psychiatrist.

[@DarthTach]

"Terrorists trying to blow up the WTC." How to date an episode without actually dating an episode.

[@jar7840]

Not quite. This episode aired In 95/96. In 93 there was an attempted bombing of the world trade center.

[@ayameisastar]

@@jar7840 that’s what he meant. Terrorists succeeded in 2001 but they tried in 1993, which means this episode had to have been filmed or written in those 8 years in between

[@MsLogjam]

Aye.

[@c.w.simpsonproductions1230]

Fascinating. These days, the 1990s are remembered fondly as a great, peaceful era before the paranoia of terrorism. Where the economy was booming and life was good. But this just shows how we focus and romanticize the positive aspects and ignore that the 90s had their fair share of dark moments like any other period in time.

[@Ronkyort0dox]

NYC has always been a cesspool

[@sirdragon6860]

Wouldn't this already be early 2000s ? I mean with how she talked about the World Trade Center, or were there multiple attacks prior to 9/11?

[@rubaiyat300]

@@sirdragon6860 There was an attempted bombing 7 years or so before. Or rather the bombing happened and was terrible but it didn't take down the building. Same perps so to speak.

[@paulacornelison243]

1920s peaceful? I remember it differently.

[@matthewbarry1746]

​@@paulacornelison243 Learn how to read.

[@alrik359]

It's Marvin Gerard before he works for Raymond Reddington.

[@geneticwolf8571]

7:00 that priest look though

[@ronfacehoohaha3524]

When she was being questioned: I can't remember...wait....there was a young man...definitely Puerto Rican...🙄

[@TheBatugan77]

Puerrriccan.

[@JaneSt.Valentine]

"It's not going to go away!" Well, not with _that_ attitude, it's not...

[@milly7843]

I'm sorry, but the Priest's face at the end sent me lmao

[@alicewilloughby4318]

4:44 - OMG, I think that's the same actor who used to play Chuck on Early Edition!

[@judykoeppelswas8231]

Anybody thinking postpartum depression here?

[@woofmeow5752]

That’s exactly what I came down to the comments to find. People don’t realize how unfortunately common it is for mothers to hurt or kill their babies. Pregnancy and birth changes you. So many people are never the same, especially fresh out of birth. Mixed with lack of sleep and who knows what else they are dealing with, anger issues, delusions, dormant mental illness, it all rises up to the surface.

[@klc4023]

Or postpartum psychosis...

[@chelseafcrocks82]

It's rare for any mother suffering from PPP to be so coherent and rational after they do something like this, even months or years after the fact

[@dryb3301]

The priests face at the end says it all Another victim of religion, poor baby

[@alcoholandfun243]

You're right. If the mother had only done it a couple of years earlier. It would have been fine and no one would have cared

[@sebastianfilip6459]

Yeah , cause religion tells peopel to kill their own children 🙄

[@noahdoney]

@@alcoholandfun243 Do this somewhere else.

[@melvinnclarissamartin3866]

What about all the victims that have nothing to do with religion Aren't they just as innocent. There are children being killed on a daily basis and it's not just in religious groups and hurt by people all the time. And yet as soon as the focus is on a so called religious family everybody ends up pointing the finger anger but yet there is evil out in the world on a daily basis and very little being done. Evil happens no matter what religion you are or are not. And most the time when mother'snap and killed her infants your infants they are suffering from postpartum depression but I'm depression and don't know what else to doAnd their husbands have no idea that they are suffering from postpartum depression it's a real thing and people need to be aware of it I have 2 sister law's that have dealt with poised partum depression. And if you look back in history even with the Andrea Yates case when she killed all of her children she was suffering from a mental illness or postpartum depression herself and never got the help that she needed. By the time That her family members or even her husband realized what was going on with her it was too late. Postpartum depression can last many years it's not something that just happens after you have a baby.

[@JSmedic1]

@@alcoholandfun243 That's not the truth. God cares about the babies not yet born.

[@TheAtonne]

The world is broken. But thanks to this evil woman's actions, and I do mean evil, she'll never have the chance to help fix it.

[@Veronica-yd5dz]

The look on that priests face..

[@fever_spike]

I can only ever see Fisher Stevens as Chuck Fishman from Early Edition…used to love that series.

[@michaelkillerrominesdragon5080]

I did not see this twist coming but I upset

[@moonyman4353]

the title literally says why would a mother do this bru

[@sonrouge]

Ah yes, the one where McCoy gets to do what we've always wanted him to do.

[@kaiweekes566]

whats that?

[@reddd-77]

@@kaiweekes566 "shut up"

[@DieselD7101]

Tell the defence attorney to sit down and shut up.

[@billobong9792]

Where Rey Curtis got a confession out of guilt

[@TheMan750]

They didn’t show it on here

[@jackiewymer789]

the hubby knew.... yet didnt get her any kind of help, didnt talk to a hospital or the police.... would have been better to just give her up

[@billobong9792]

Got to be one of the dumbest crimes I ever seen, if you had these concerns about what your child would exist in, why would you still conceive

[@Animedingo]

It's almost like MANY states in the USA Don't let you have ANY option to terminate an abortion if you get pregnant accidentally. Obviously she's catholic so she aint doing that,

[@MsLogjam]

The woman or whoever inspired this character sounds like she would have been suffering from postpartum depression. Not to mention the fact that a child isn't real until they're at least conceived; therefore, you can never know how parenthood is going to affect you emotionally until you're actually there in the middle of it. And it doesn't sound like the pregnancy was planned anyway, given their finances. Unexpected babies can show up even when people use birth control. Men have no right to tell women how they're supposed to feel during and after a pregnancy.

[@ardibetrayal3493]

Exactly, i'm confused too if the world is too much for a child why the hell you want him / her born in the first place

[@Gmoviesmoothie]

*people's minds change *abortions are denied Etc Etc

[@marthashaebanyan-bady4259]

@@MsLogjam Postpartum depression can get bad enough that it turns into postpartum psychosis sometimes. That should be mentioned, too.

[@ql688]

I know this is a show, but what a dumb excuse to kill your child. She is right about one thing its a cruel world we live in. Then why bring the child into this world?

[@FrogWitch666]

Unfortunately people are now having to because roe v wade

[@Waryfaerie]

I think I can actually make a somewhat logical assumption here. We are born in sin so babies don’t go to heaven without being baptized. If she had an abortion her baby would go to hell, so better to have the baby and baptize it before she killed it, at least in her mind, so she could guarantee her baby went to heaven. I’m not religious but this is just my assumption based on my church upbringing and her post partum depression/psychosis probably made her believe this was what she had to do

[@GailVelasco]

EXACTLY!

[@GailVelasco]

​@@Waryfaeriethank you for sharing that. This is what Catholics believe in. But if this is her belief even before getting pregnant, she should have been a celibate then.

[@Waryfaerie]

@@GailVelasco Agreed, and while I can say, “Well that just doesn’t make good television”, real people make these foolish and selfish decisions all the time

[@d.i.y.carley]

And this is why postpartum needs treated…

[@katymvt]

I'd be suspicious when she said Puerto Rican. How do you tell a Puerto Rican from a Mexican, other Central American, etc, etc.

[@Bubblez914]

It's New York, most of the Latino population there was Puerto Rican. And if you've been around different people from the varying countries, you can sometimes tell from the accents.

[@katymvt]

@@Bubblez914 But, according to her he was just sitting there. No accent to be heard.

[@Rosemarie-YouTube-]

@@katymvt not to be stereotypical or profile any one or group, but from my extensive television watching, many NY shows/movies have the characters wanting to represent the new country proudly while also wanting to display pride in where they come from, so flags on shirts, hats, stickers, decorative or scale is usually worn somewhere on clothes or car. As a Mexican Hispanic born in San Diego, I can tell you you can tell by clothing styles, jewelery, & many other factors just by sight & be correct 8/10 not counting the flag or country names clearly displayed 😉 but usually people who come to the us want to respect both places so as to not forget where they come from & a quick way to see something from home as a way to recall fond memories & to also give strength in stressful times in new homeland. No speaking necessary 😁

[@Bubblez914]

@@katymvt true lol. But sometimes you can tell by looking at someone, what their background is, especially if you see people from that group a lot. For example, I went to two very diverse schools for junior and senior high. After a while, at least 70% of the time you could accurately guess who was Filipino, who was Korean, who was Mexican or who was Puerto Rican. You could pick out the Haitians from the Nigerians or Jamaicans. Not saying this will always be the case but there are certain physical features that are common among groups of people with similar ethnic backgrounds that you won't see or rarely see in others. There's also certain mannerisms. But anyway, yea all of that aside the lady said he was just sitting there. Unless he was wearing something indicative of where he was from, there's no way she'd know for a fact he was Puerto Rican. She could say he looked like he might be Puerto Rican but that's about as far as she could take that. We all knew she was lying lol.

[@davidl8759]

How do u not? Totally different people

[@LaBarata12]

Give it 20 years, lady, you ain't seen nothing yet

[@RocketRoketto]

That baby in that photo was way too big to be in that itty stroller

[@wesleypharr7539]

The lawer that talks to lea on the stand I'm sure is the same guy from Its Always Sunny when he wrote that's the gangs bar is the worst in Philly

[@CandiceGoddard]

How would you know that someone is Puerto Rican? My family is from the West Indies, I can't tell people are from any specific island until I hear them speaking then it's a guess based on accent.

[@Reviewer2016]

You can say you see her logic but that’s still an excuse. She’s basically saying “no I didn’t kill my kid because I’m crazy, I killed my kid because the world is crazy!” (Which further the point considering more often crazy people think they’re the only one who’s sane in the world). Even then she’s doing it for herself, basically trying to make it seem like she was doing the right thing by killing her kid and stood on her soap acting like it wasn’t her fault with no such guilt.

[@sabriamcneil6133]

The only word that comes to mind after watching this was "hypocritical"

[@CoyoteCode]

Definition of abrahamic beliefs.

[@maddysmith8079]

I feel bad for the husband, the father & the official police for finding out that it wasn't kidnapping it was her own doing to end her daughter's life for the greater good in her mind

[@Akarisugiyama2010]

The husband? Who knew his wife had post partum? And did nothing? Hes to blame also he was there everyday and did nothing.

[@TheBatugan77]

Thanks to her, Rachel missed the Yankees historic dynasty in the late 90s!

[@Ronkyort0dox]

And Trump's election

[@robertcampbell8070]

I mean, 90's New York was bad, but this lady apparently lived in the crime vortex of the city.

[@t-rexcellentreviews1663]

I mean, she could’ve have moved to the suburbs or the country.

[@Sephiroth766]

This episode was based on the Susan Smith case. A woman claims her child was kidnapped by a minority only to be revealed she did it. I do feel slightly sorry for her because her lawyer was a knucklehead. He didn't know basic procedure, always bumbled when he spoke, wasn't prepared for his opening segment and ad the ludicrous defense of "it was God's plan". She deserves a new trial with better counsel although she would still be convicted.

[@kevindolan9]

It’s low hanging fruit to nudge at this but her logic is horrifically flawed. Not because of whether or not your religious beliefs are but she didn’t want her baby to suffer, to be subjected into a world filled with hate filled and monstrous people. Sure she’s not suffering anymore but Rachel was definitely suffering when she was smothered with a pillow and died of suffocation and the mother ended up becoming one of the more monstrous examples in her listings with the denial of believing she did her daughter a favor. If you didn’t want to bring a child into a world you perceived as hellish don’t have the child especially if you believe Filicide is the answer to saving said child.

[@thegreatselkie6009]

Here come the “thoughts and prayers”. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

[@sebastianfilip6459]

It's annoying , but I don't see say religious organization we would approve of this act

[@1Clearwords]

🤣

[@michelleelmore5533]

Funny how she talks about what’s wrong with the world but lies on an innocent man

[@tamekkaknuth9612]

Never seen south Park literally

[@alaakela]

If you believe in absurdities you will commit atrocities.

[@carolgrech7347]

Any one else notice the policeman didn’t put gloves on before he took the prom to forensics

[@erwanne1305]

The world trade center part is wierd looking back.

[@jar7840]

Not quite. This episode aired In 95/96. In 93 there was an attempted bombing of the world trade center.

[@Blue-ej7rw]

Is it normal not to bring a baby to confession and leave then unoccupied by the booth?

[@djanfardabdoumkandaa7772]

N. E. W. Y. O. R

[@shannonsmith4174]

THEN GET HER ADOPTED SERIOUSLY WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU....

[@katymvt]

Just an extremely late term abortion.

[@klc4023]

Likely, postpartum psychosis.

[@yucol5661]

What does adoption have to do with anything she said???

[@luvlylady55]

does anyone know how this episode ended? i mean..was she sent to prison or to an insane asylum. i kind of feel sorry for her

[@t-rexcellentreviews1663]

I honestly don’t, their are quieter, safer parts of the world where she could have moved to if she felt the city world was to dangerous for her daughter, their were other options for her and she knew what she was doing was wrong from the very beginning.

[@ScotsAnimeReaction]

If she didn't want her child to grow up in an unsafe environment, then she should have talked to her husband about having their child adopted somewhere so that the child would be safe & grow up in a healthy environment. Instead she killed her daughter just because she believed she would be safe in heaven without thinking about how it affects husband or what she had done wasn't any different from what Susan Smith did to her two children.

[@Sephiroth766]

She got convicted of murder

[@marksmith3947]

I don't know the episode but she comes across as cold and calculating rather than crazy - - something like a female John List

[@neocomp92]

Weird logic. If souls came from God, why does God subject them to all the horrors of the world? Why should she have the right to return her baby's soul to the same person who sent her to that terrible place?

[@marthashaebanyan-bady4259]

Some Christians believe in Satan as well as God and would respond, "I didn't want Satan to get the baby so I killed it while it was still innocent so it could go to Jesus."

[@me-oh9du]

To your first question, God has given freewill and this life is a test, the horrors people do is because of their ownself. God didn't create this world as a permanent place, its temporary.

[@neocomp92]

@@me-oh9du Post-hoc reasoning that only works *after* the Fall of Man. So what was God upset about if it was inevitable that free will has the risk of disobeying him?

[@livcaitbff]

Because she’s nuts

[@chloebass5794]

@@neocomp92 it’s kinda like with kids you don’t control what they do but when they do bad things it upsets you God loves us he doesn’t want us to do bad things

[@terrynasonisasupervillain9017]

Nice

[@marksmith3947]

Maybe she's mentally ill, but she's really unsympathetic. If I were on a jury I'd vote to convict

[@djanfardabdoumkandaa7772]

M. R. C

[@sdaiwepm]

Leah and Rachel aren't the most Catholic names.

[@JaneSt.Valentine]

I don't think this episode could decide if they were Catholic or Christian...

[@sdaiwepm]

I was thinking of another religion altogether.

[@beatrixmahlknecht2817]

Leah and Rachel were sisters and both married to Jacob (Genesis, first book of the hebrew bible/christian old testament)

[@Sam-nz3vj]

They are in the Bible so yes they are. My family is very devout catholic and I have an aunt Rachel.

[@LOwens-xf8yo]

Hello, Catholic named Leah here. Turns out we can chose Old or New Testament names.

[@richardzeiders5496]

How many post-partum women do this? One is too many. Yes, this is a horrible world.

[@Akarisugiyama2010]

Especially in that country without universal Healthcare.

[@myslef7636]

this is no worse than abortion

[@proudatheist2042]

No. Abortion is the wise choice is someone can't be a parent. Is an egg a chicken? Is an acorn a tree?

[@marksmith3947]

You may have a point. Is it too late for Trump?

[@crystalmorse3094]

Vile even for a tv show

[@sarahwalker4191]

I had post partum after giving birth to my son. I was really bad with it

[@ianandersen265]

It's not the mother's job to take away a person's freewill.

[@djanfardabdoumkandaa7772]

S

[@cathycastillo7027]

Good Morning Oscar..#Lee1936

[@courtneylynn3844]

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[@jabuclaude1085]

RELIGION WINS AGAIN

[@starlingswallow]

Hmmm....I see no tears on her face. 🤦🏻‍♀️ An Amber Heard?

[@dbldekr]

"Terrorists are trying to blow up the world trade center" oof

[@LightHawkAlchemist]

666th here

[@josephkarl2061]

That's much better than 1st 🤘

[@starguy2718]

👿👿👿👿👿👿👿

[@JackiePhillipsTheSocialPet]

If a god were real, this wouldn't happen!!!

[@CoyoteCode]

The gods, like parents, aren't responsible for humans for eternity. There's a reason why humans are able to take care of themselves. Religions are for helping to spiritually guide, not dictate for conquest & murder. Humans have to learn to deal with their own problems. Also, you might find this interesting, but the historically humorous part of the abrahamics is that the words cult & pagan were insults thought up by the abrahamics to discredit actual beliefs, where as those words are actually define the abrahamics. Historians & archeological studies have revealed that the abrahamics descended from a fallen pantheon belief that became twisted by its followers in an attempt to keep the belief afloat. They kept altering the pantheon belief, removing more & more of their gods from the belief until only one of the gods was left & they dictated it was the one true & only god. After that they spread out like an infection, gaining many followers the same way cults today do, by recruiting the crazies, the lost, the hurt, the hungry, the opportunists, the gullible, & the vile. So despite the abrahamics declarations that they are right, they've committed more wrongs than Hitler & his Nazis.

[@DJGOGSTOWN]

2nd

[@myname7056]

4th.

[@dianabraz9728]

Nice

[@djanfardabdoumkandaa7772]

M. R. C