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Woman stabs boyfriend in New Castle County
Woman convicted of killing two husbands
Act now to protect dad from mom's abuse
November 12, 1998, (States News Service) — New Castle County police have arrested a 25- year-old woman for stabbing her boyfriend during a domestic dispute. Kamilah Brown is charged with second-degree assault and other offenses. Her 27-year-old boyfriend was being treated at Christiana Hospital.
Abstracted from TheChamplainChannel.com
April 27, 2004 — Hearings are under way Tuesday to decide if a woman convicted of killing her two husbands will die for her crimes.
A Delaware jury convicted Linda Lou Charbonneau of killing her first husband, John Charbonneau, and her second husband, William Sproates. The two men were both from Vermont and were related.
The jury will now decide whether Linda Charbonneau should be sentenced to death or get life in prison.
September 18, 2007 — Dear Amy: My elderly mother verbally abuses and screams at my father. I did not realize how the bad the problem was until I visited them last month.
Within a few days, I witnessed Mom scream — and I do mean scream — at Dad for everything from blowing his nose too loud to forgetting to put his coffee cup in the dishwasher. She did not have one kind word to say to him the entire time I was there.
He just seemed to take it all in stride and never yelled back at her, probably because he's used to it. Mom routinely screamed at and hit my brother and me when we were growing up. Now Dad has apparently become the object of her wrath.
I mentioned this to my brother who lives closer to my parents and sees them more often than I do. He said he's also witnessed an escalation in Mom's behavior and even his own children have noticed how “mean” Grandma is to Grandpa.
We love both our parents and don't want to make things worse for Dad — who, I probably should mention, did very little to protect us from Mom's abuse when we were little. But we don't want to stand by while the same thing happens to him. What should we do?
Dear Distraught: You and your brother need to speak to your father alone about this. Tell him how worried you are and offer him your support and an action plan. He may be embarrassed or confused; he may diminish how serious this is, but you should express your love and support to him and tell him that if he wants to leave the relationship, you will help him. Verbal abuse is harmful enough; if your mother is also physically abusing your father as she did you, then you should do everything possible to get him out of the home.
Most areas offer elder protective services that will intervene in domestic situations. You can call anonymously and talk this through with a counselor. The National Center on Elder Abuse offers a state-by-state listing of hot lines for local adult protective agencies.
Your mother also needs help. Because her behavior seems to be getting worse, her health might be a factor. You don't say whether anyone in your family has ever stood up to the raging bully in your lives, but it's time that you and your brother presented a united front. Tell her that you are alarmed at what is going on, that it needs to stop and that they both need help.
For more resources designed to help the elderly and those who care about them, contact the National Eldercare Locator (or call 800-677-1116 weekdays during business hours).
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