applepie

First, thank you all for your kind comments. Andave, you'll be happy to hear that I'm sitting down to write a bit after I finish this entry. I'm going to start working harder to find even a single hour each day to work on my story. So, hopefully there will be chapters coming soon:)

Anyway, onto the bit about the Mason, Ohio murders. This was a sad occurance that touched a bit too close to home for my family. If you've not heard anything about it, a family was killed and the house set on fire. There were four children killed in the blaze, the mother was stabbed to death, and the father had sustained injuries as well. Following the reports that the mother and four children had been killed, it was announced (with no evidence cited to support it) that the father was being arrested and charged with the murder of the whole family.

It turns out that my dad actually worked with the man. He knew the names of the kids, and a few people at his company were friends with him. The case was reported oddly by the news, and the father was hailed as a murderer. I've been waiting for days to find out if there was any substatial proof, and that is why I've waited to blog about it. It seems that there is a confession from the man's time in the hospital, and that is what they are relying on for the stepping point of their case.

He confessed that he stabbed his wife to death, and he set the house on fire. He tried to get the kids out, but the fire spread too quickly and they died. It seems he came home that night and told his wife he was divorcing her and taking their children. He then went up to pack, and she came and attacked him with a skillet and knife. A fight ensued, and in the end his wife was dead. He then went to get a gas can and set the room on fire. It spread too quickly, and he wasn't able to get the children out as he planned. He was forced to jump from the house.

It is hard to line it all up here, but there are still things that don't fit. Firstly, they are now reporting that the mother was outside the house rather than within with one of the children as originally stated. The father had serious injury, and he was unconcious when they found him. There is also no proof that he set the fire (as of the last I looked) stating that he set the blaze. The only proof is that he claimed guilt for the kids being dead in a confession taken while he was heavily medicated.

The news has been reporting as if he is guilty, and I have found myself wondering just how unethical is the way that the news is reported? They've little information, no conviction, but they still are calling him a murderer. How can they be so certain, when the trial isn't even set, that he was the one who set the fire? Why has no one asked the question of whether the mother would wish to kill her children rather than have him take them? It's not impossible, and it seems a little more plausable if she really did attack him first. I've been saddened by the reports, but I also can't help but wonder if an innocent man is being villified by the media to save face for them and the presecuters office. If he set the fire, then he deserves whatever punishment he recieves, but shouldn't he be tried and found guilty before the media starts calling him a killer?

Just some odd thoughts for the night.

Take Care,
Meg