Punk sexually assaults girlfriend on live video
Terrifying Beauty: Amy Kern's Rampage
Monday, Feb. 9 2009 @ 10:03AM
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UPDATE: CBS 12 has published a new article that gives some new and horrifying details about the death of Amy Kern's grandmother, Debra. If Kern is guilty, she may very well be just as crazy as her lawyers will surely claim. That, or pure evil. Thanks to reader BVikk for the tip.
UPDATE: News4Jax.com has the arrest report in this case. It's pretty revealing, to say the least.
ORIGINAL POST
On her MySpace profile, Amy Kern wrote:
I am open minded to many things with a funny sense of humor. I can be pretty rebellious at times, but always have a good heart deep down.
The following is from an article published online by WPTV TV, the NBC affiliate in Palm Beach, Florida. The article was posted to the Web on February 8:
A woman is in custody tonight, accused of going on a shooting spree that left two people dead.
Police say she was found in the Bluffs community of Jupiter along with one of her victims.
The suspect was brought out of this home, where they say she killed one of her victims - her grandmother, 80-year-old Donna Kerns [sic].
Video posted online by the same TV station showed police leading a blonde woman from the second floor of Donna Kern's mansard-roofed residence.
People close to pretty, 30-year-old Saint Mary's, GA resident Amy Kern believe she went crazy. Kern may have been losing it since late last year. A month after her daughter was born at the end of November, 2008, Kern was accused of threatening the infant and attacking her fiance with an axe.
Speaking to CBS 12 in Palm Beach, Kern's fiance, Andrew Charneski said, "Sometimes when she goes into that state she hears voices. She thinks people are trying to do her harm and it's always directed at the people she loves the most."
If Charneski is telling the truth, his statement may explain what police say Amy Kern did this weekend.
Prior to Amy Kern's arrest on Saturday at her grandmother's home, someone came to the apartment Kern's aunt, Beverly Kern, shared with a 59-year-old man named William Chapman. Like Doris Kern, Chapman was shot to death.
In addition to the murders, police believe Amy Kern went on a shooting spree, targeting a vehicle on I-95 and then a man at a highway rest stop.
Amy Kern may be receiving psychiatric treatment while incarcerated at the Palm Beach County Jail. Kern herself requested she be placed on suicide watch.
Unlike the personal profiles or webpages of many folks accused -- even convicted -- of violent crimes, there is nothing on Amy Kern's MySpace page that might clue a reader in to what allegedly lurked beneath her attractive façade. Her "About me":
I am from Jupiter, FL. Born, raised, and worked there my whole life up until a couple years ago. I enjoy warm, beautiful weather, nice beaches, the ocean, going to the park, hanging out with good friends, or not hanging out with anybody sometimes (as long as I'm having fun), four-wheeling, mudding, and going fast in fast cars or on roller coasters. Boating, fishing, and camping out in the woods next to a bon-fire are also among my favorites. I do like to shop and hang out on the inside sometimes though. I just like to be having a good time no matter what it is, really. I just had a daughter the end of Nov. 2008. I can not stand to be away from her. She has got to be the best thing ever!!
See? Just like the self-description published by a million other young mothers on the social networking site.
So the question is -- what set this woman off? Was it a combination of pre-existing mental illness perhaps fired by post-partum depression? The latter can turn into post-partum psychosis. In a person who has already had major mental health problems, it may not be a big leap from depression to psychosis.
I suspect there is more in Amy Kern's past than the alleged axe attack on Andrew Charneski (who was not harmed in the attack). Still -- women certainly commit violent crime, but they don't do it as often as men, and incidents like the murders of Chapman and Donna Kern are relatively rare. It seems as though the killer was driven to commit these crimes.
Is Amy Kern legally insane, or that rare female psychopath who behaves more like her male counterparts? There's no way to know yet. A hair-trigger analysis of the sheer number of photos Kern posted in her MySpace showing just her might point towards the sane but psycho answer to that question. If so, then why kill your family members? Usually, the psychopath's mode of operation is to use and sponge off family.
There aren't many answers yet, and there may never be. Perhaps Amy Kern doesn't even know why she's sitting in jail today, under a suicide watch. If so, that would only compound the tragedy.
Check out the newest story on the cbs12.com website. Says she used a tire iron to sexually assault and beat the grandmother.
Posted 02/09/2009 at 07:18:38 PMHere is more information...bipolar schizophrenic + postpartum depression.
http://snipurl.com/blnts
Posted 02/09/2009 at 10:00:33 PMAnd here's a list of reports from St. Mary's police going back to Dec. 2007...
http://snipurl.com/bloan
Posted 02/09/2009 at 10:07:56 PMMany years ago, someone with this many problems would have been hospitalized for life.
Thing is, in Florida, I'm not sure she'll find a jury that buys the not guilty by reason of insanity defense valid. I'm not even sure Florida allows that defense. Some states don't.
Posted 02/09/2009 at 10:15:42 PMWhile it means very little, I suppose; take another look at good ol' Amy's 'My Space' photo. She looks twisted even when attempting to look becoming.
It is apparent that she has been in and out of psychiatric facilities, and has been (or may still be up to the time of the murders) under the care of a psychiatrist. In hindsight, it is clear she should have never been released.
Finally, an article states Kern's baby daughter has been living, at least for the last few months, with Kern's former boyfriend, the father of the little girl.
I congratulate the father for having the good sense to act as a father. Had he not put his baby's health and well-being ahead of his own wants, she easily could also have been a victim of this killer. Much too often there are children making their way through childhood without the benefit of a dad who cares. Apparently in this case, while the girl has a terribly hard road ahead, she has a dad on her side. He has my admiration and best wishes.
Posted 02/10/2009 at 12:52:39 AMThis chick was a ticking time bomb. The sad thing is, just about everyone around her, including HERSELF, knew it, yet there was still no help to be found. Tragic all around.
Posted 02/10/2009 at 02:39:16 AMShe's a very, very ill woman. I wonder how long it will take our society to treat mental illness in an effective manner.
Posted 02/10/2009 at 09:27:52 AMWilliam Chapman was my brother whom I love very much . This Amy Kern needs to rot in hell. She is satan and I have no
pity for this woman. She needs to be beaten with a tire iron like her poor 80 year old grandmother and even then
that would be to good for her.
Posted 03/14/2009 at 01:49:33 PMWilliam Chapman is my brother whom Amy Kern took
Posted 03/14/2009 at 01:52:16 PMfrom our family. I hope she rots in hell!!!!!
Harriett has a right to hate Amy. Amy took someone she will never again see.
The real question is not what to do about Amy but what can society do to prevent these types of events in the future.
Posted 03/29/2009 at 08:29:37 PMPlease remember, the system did NOT fail Amy. Amy failed the system. She chose not to take her meds and she chose not to get help. Her claim of knocking on psych hospital door is B.S. She's had enough treatments to know what she needed to do to get help. She simply wanted to murder someone and is making up excuses to justify her actions. It is time for Amy to be punished for her choices.
This is a story line that you would see on TV not in my own family. Donna Kern is my Aunt. I know Donna bent over backwards to help Amy when her mother past away. That's the type of woman Aunt Donna was a kind caring person. She did not deserve to die the way she did. It just sickens me everytime I think about it. I'm tring to keep up with what going on by internet. I know her trial I thinks starts tomorrow. I wish someone would e-mail me and let me know what is going on. I live so far away. It's hard to talk to the family I'm sure their beside themselves. I like to see justice done.
Posted 04/02/2009 at 05:38:18 PMWhat I think is this lady suffers from ''Schizophrenia'' or ''dementia praecox''
Posted 04/14/2009 at 09:00:13 AMI met this woman & she was nothing like this she is very soft spoken and all she wanted was to be with Andy and her baby... I know for a fact where she is coming from and let me tell you she was not on the correct meds... Days before leaving her last trip to the hospital she talked with her doctors about the effects they were having! Sadly to say the doctors did not listen as I to suffer from what Amy was diagnosed with... And if you have never been a patient in a mental facility you dont know what we go thru day to day to make sure are meds are in fact correct... Doctors and those around us usually seem to think we are playing around when in fact we are not... Seems like no one likes to take the mental health of a person serious until a tragedy like this comes around... Amy I know who you are and the things you went thru!! Im so sorry my sweet Amy for this has happened you and AVA And Andy are in my prayers!!
Posted 07/15/2009 at 04:45:52 AMI was locked up with her when the incident first happened in The Palm Beach County Jail mental health unit for aggravated assualt with a deadly weapon. She seemed normal to me other than the fact that she was hearing things.
Posted 08/04/2009 at 09:46:40 PMIf anyone has any info on whats going on about Amy Kern case will someone please e-mail me at janet_roberson@hotmail,com. Amy if a cousin of mine and Donna Kern is my aunt. I would like to keep up with the story. I loved my Aunt Donna and I like to see Amy pay for what she did. Thank you Janet
Posted 10/06/2009 at 10:08:50 PMI know it is hard for the Family Members of whom this tragedy happened to. My sympathy goes out to all of you. Amy was & is a very good hearted person with a mental illness. She tried for years to "get help" & all the doctors wanted to do was change/ or up her meds. Thats NOT HELP! It doesnt excuse her for what she did. Had she recieved help, this tragedy wouldn't have happened!
Posted 11/10/2009 at 12:43:07 PMI know her personally.. she is the sweetest girl ever... her medication drove to her to temporary insanity!
Posted 12/27/2009 at 09:17:56 AMHer Grandmothers name is Donna not Doris and would have been here for mother's day have it not been for this ...person...
Posted 05/10/2010 at 08:59:23 PM