I definitely feel sorry for the mother of 'Cannibal Cop' Gilberto Valle, who is accused of plotting to cook 100 women. At worst, her son might be a wannabe cannibal and mass murderer. At best, he's got some seriously twisted fantasies. I can only imagine that at this point, she's asking herself, "What happened to my baby?!" But although Elizabeth Valle sounds stressed, she doesn't sound like she thinks her son has done anything wrong. She told the Mail Online:

My son is not what they are saying he is. He’s been made out to be a monster. My son is not a monster.
Elizabeth seems to believe she knows the truth of what her son is, and the truth is world's away from what the prosecution is saying.

Valle's mom went on to say:

It is a difficult time but we’re holding up okay. It gives me great strength knowing that when the truth comes out my son will be okay. The truth will show what he really is and it’s not this… thing, people are saying. My son will be fine.

Well, it's unlikely her son will be fine. Even if all of his talk of cooking women is just "fantasy," as his defense team claims, who, exactly, is going to trust a man who fantasizes about this kind of twisted stuff? Either for as an employee -- especially a police officer!! -- or in a relationship or as a father?

Not to mention that Valle has more to answer for than just fantasy -- he had allegedly illegally accessed a law enforcement database in order to gather personal information on dozens of women. I doubt the NYPD will be putting him back on the beat any time soon.

I'm not going to judge a mom who defends her son no matter what -- perhaps, after all, this is the ultimate job of a mother. On the other hand, it's a thin line betweeen standing by your child and enabling him. I highly respect mothers who are able to look at their kids' behavior objectively and say, "This is wrong." Like the mom who turned in her teen sons to authorities when she suspected they had something to do with the murder of Autumn Pasquale. Or the mother who turned in her son in the murder of Jessica Ridgeway. I highly respect these moms because this must have been the most difficult decision they ever made -- but they did it for the good of society.

I'm not saying Elizabeth Valle doesn't have the right to defend her son -- maybe she knows something or thinks she knows something -- that the rest of us don't. However, on the face of it, this looks painfully like a mother in denial. But who can blame her? This is a mother's worst nightmare.

Do you think moms should always defend their children no matter what they do?


Image via AOL 5 mins