There are almost no occasions in which beating a spouse to death is an appropriate response. But for one father in New Hampshire who returned to find his children seemingly murdered by their mother, it kind of makes sense.
Last year, Christopher Smeltzer returned home one day to find his 4-year-old son strangled to death, his 7-year-old daughter seemingly also strangled (though she was only unconscious), and the guilty party -- his wife, Mara Pappalardo -- trying to hang herself.
Understandably, the man lost control. And what he did next may make him spend the next decade in prison. He picked up a flashlight and he beat his wife to death. Is it bad that I don't even blame him?
Beating someone to death is never the rational, intelligent way to handle a situation, but Smeltzer wasn't in his rational mind. Other reports claim he was using cocaine, which, admittedly, would make a person a bit more irrational. But even if he were completely sober, can any parent really believe they wouldn't do the same?
Putting myself in his shoes is a sickening task, but the idea that I might return home one day to find my children strangled by their father is almost too painful to bear. Would I kill him? Maybe. It's hard to say.
The rage I would feel would be unbearable. Can you imagine? No one could suggest that he was in his right mind. He had just found his tiny son cold and lifeless and the murderer was standing right in front of him. Spouse or not, it's hard to imagine a person who wouldn't do the same.
Our children are everything to us if we're good parents. I love my husband, but in that moment, I could see being so blinded by rage that good sense and love flew out the window.
This wife clearly had major, major problems. And yes, he handled it incorrectly. But who can really blame him and who can say how they would react given the same scene? I have to think that seeing my two children dead would make me want to kill, too. Was he right? No. But was he wrong? Maybe not that either.
Do you think he was wrong?
Image via labormikro/Flickr
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Comments 760
Maybe he did it. One thing doesn't jibe. If my spouse murdered my child, I would hope that my first reaction would be intense grief for the loss of my innocent child. Even comprehending at that moment that it was done by one's spouse seems impossible. But who knows. Maybe murder would be my first reaction? What is up with all of these crazy stories about parents abusing/killing their kids? Remember when hearing that someone did that to an animal was cause for alarm? (WHAT? They killed a kitten? They should go to jail, etc.) Something is seriously wrong in the world today...
If women agreed the same way with all the balls cutting off and slapping and other violence of women against men I would agree - but they don't so if you're asking me if his rage was understandable I say yes.
Anyone - anyone - hurt and even killed my children I would lose my mind - probably permanently. That was evil - and if society doesn't have a standard of decorum - and we forgive so much that women do because they're mad - then there is a limit for men, also.
If his wife was trying to hang herself, why didn't he just make some popcorn and sit down to watch the show? Stopping someone from commiting suicide by beating them to death with a flashlight is probably not a recommended method.
I wonder if the author of this story found it in National Enquirer along with the invading martians story.
Killing the mother won't bring his children back, but I know I would do the same thing. I would at the very least beat her senseless.
I can see why he would lose it. My son and daughter make me nuts at times, but they are my life and if anyone were to hurt any of them, no matter who it is....I don't think I would be able to handle it well...It was wrong what the husband did, but I can't blame him. I think I would blank out and go crazy too. What a tragedy