Mother Charged With Trying To Kill Her Disabled Twins

[The Straight Story]

Mother Charged With Trying To Kill Her Disabled Twins

POSTED: 11:58 pm EDT May 31, 2006
UPDATED: 7:35 am EDT June 1, 2006

HOMASSASA, Fla. -- A mother was charged with two counts of attempted murder after she tried to kill her disabled twin boys and then herself, authorities said Wednesday.

Krystal Garza, 37, locked herself along with her 14-year-old twins in her car Tuesday and attached a hose to the exhaust pipe. The two boys have cerebral palsy and cannot walk, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office said.

A motorist saw Garza's car and called police. When the motorist turned around to check on the situation, authorities said Garza took off. Deputies found her a few minutes later.

Garza and the boys survived and were taken to local hospitals and released. The Department of Children and Families took custody of the boys.

http://www.local6.com/news/9302636/detail.html

[teenagebambam]

1. I hate to generalize....

....but WHY does this sh*t always happen in FLORIDA?

[Mend]

3. there is very little in the way of support for disabled people here,

the schools suck, esp for kids with special needs, there are no decent jobs and no one wants to have CP kids in their day care. I would guess she was tired of going it alone.

[Jane Austin]

6. Not excusing this at all, but when there is no safety net from society

for people who bear burdens they cannot handle alone, this kind of thing is going to happen.

This woman obviusly felt that she had no other option.

Thanks, Florida. Once again your state government has failed the living.

And as a Texan, I hasten to add that we're not much better, if at all.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. I'm not excusing this at all, either, and I don't know much about

her circumstances. I know from personal experience as a single parent that raising and caring for healthy children can be quite a burden at times and I can't imagine how many times that would be multiplied if the children in your care had disabilities.

[sakabatou]

8. Or Germany

Either one of the two (Love Lines reference)

[jwirr]

10. Number 1: I have heard the programs to address these needs

are really bad in Florida. Number 2: The world is looking more hopeless everyday that *ss is in the WH. A young man in my neighborhood committed suicide by hanging himself yesterday. He was disabled and depressed. Both the families of persons with disabilities and the people themselves are afraid and depressed by what is going on. I cannot believe that it would not be worse if you lived in *ss's Florida stronghold.

[FreakinDJ]

2. 14 yr old twins

Makes me wonder what the twins thought about it. CP doesn't mean they are retarded mentally.

Earlier in the evening Garza's ex-husband had called deputies from his home in Texas and said Garza had threatened over the phone to kill herself and the boys.

but this sure makes me think she was less then emotionaly stable

[BlooInBloo]

4. "she was less then emotionaly stable". Gee, ya think?

[FreakinDJ]

5. I’ll lay odds it will be her defense

I’m sure some will try to argue the twins didn’t want to go on in life and she was just being a good mother trying to provide for their wishes.

Sick, ya you bet, but I’ll lay odds it will be her defense

[Nay]

11. It would be interesting to know exactly how 'involved' the ex was

in his twins' lives (if they were his, that is--it doesn't say in the article). I bet he didn't take much, if any, of the burden off of Mom. If she worked and took care of the kids too, no wonder she snapped.

[FreakinDJ]

14. She could have moved away too

Lots of divorced women seem to move to Florida for some reason

But we can't tell that from the information in this article

[Nay]

20. True. Like I said, it would be interesting to know. Who knows, now

that the kids will probably be taken from her, maybe dad will step in.

[madmom]

9. now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the exhaust from a car muffler

CO2, if so after seeing the latest commercial from the energy corp " CO2 they call it pollution, we call it life" couldn't a good lawyer use this in a defense? ( don't mean too sound coy or flippant about this but it was the first thing that came to my mind when I read this)

[karlrschneider]

13. There is CO2 in engine exhaust which isn't poisonous but the CO

carbon MONoxide that is a large component is deadly toxic. CO2 -can- be deadly but in a different way...in that it displaces needed oxygen. After all, we all breathe CO2 out with every respiration.

[karlrschneider]

12. Sheesh, you'd think they could spell Homosassa right, at least.

:eyes:

[kath]

15. Civilized countries (such as the UK and others with national health care)

provide RESPITE CARE in such situations so that parents of severely disabled kids don't have to bear the burden all alone and can have a break now and then.

But, hey, we don't want none of that Socialized Medicine - socialism is EEEEEE-VULL!!!

We are so far behind other developed nations in SO many ways. Sickening.

[Djinn]

16. not exactly

In Australia (with a national health service) and in the UK (both of which I'm a citizen of) have respite care but it's MASSIVELY underfunded the waiting lists are YEARS long. The money for repsite doesn't come under the health budget and has little to do with "socialised" funding as it comes out of general govt revenue. Governments only spend money on what they are pressured to, parents of disabled kids are in big enough numbers and politicians (with reason) feel the rest of the population couldn't care less.

That said, parent/child murder/suicides happen all the time, this may well have had nothing to do with her kids' physical disabilities

[deek]

17. CA and MN are good states to live in

if you are disabled. Far from perfect, but better than most...for now.

[Pushed To The Left]

18. What an evil, selfish act by the mother!

I'm glad those kids are okay. Hopefully they will end up in a safe, loving home and their mother will end up behind bars for a long time.

[AtomicKitten]

19. A close friend has an adult child with cerebral palsy.

It has been tough-going for her and will be a lifetime commitment.

I really feel for this mother of two almost adult-sized kids. She probably has inadequate resources and support.

This story is tragic on so many levels.