Stories Like This Make Me Want to Live on Mars: Otty Sanchez and her Baby Scott

• For one, just because someone is mentally ill doesn't mean they hear voices. Just like there are many different forms of cancer, there are many different forms of mental illnesses. For two, just because you suffer from a mental illness doesn't make you crazy or make you a murderer. I was diagonosed with bipolar when I was 12 and I am now 25, I have never killed anyone. Yes, I admit there have been some very rough patches in my life, I also do my best and try to lead a very productive life as a daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother. I do agree however that there should be a better way for meds. I too have stopped takin my meds several times. Not only do some of us think that when we are "up" we don't need or meds (which is a very horrible of thinking) but you also have to take into consideration that some of us don't like having to depend on "happy" pills(s). We look at you "normal" people and think why do we have to have a pill to make us happy. It is horrible that with todays advances in science and technology that there is still very little understanding and compasion for people who suffer from anything as mild depression to schizophernia. Maybe some of you should think about that the mext time you jump to conclussions about someone suffering from a mental illness. With all that being said, I do not condone what this woman did. Whether she had mental issuses or drug issuses, there is something not right with her. I read in another article where she said the devil made her do it, perhaps she is right. I only see an evil person capable of such acts. My heart goes out to that poor baby. I know God is loving him in a way his mother couldn't have and he is in a much better and safer place.

• She is deranged. I did read that blog thing on her myspace and then thought about it and the XXOO"S are her way of saying LOVE, this is one sick puppy 33 years old and still can't type love, she is acting like a 10 year old with a crush...she needs to locked up for the rest of her life.

• Steve says.. reports about the hideous murder of her son indicate she had no substantial criminal history and no clear history of mental illness. Sadly, this horrific incident cannot be the result of anybody sane, and at least to me, more than drugs. But, mental illness is another thing. The mentally ill fall through the cracks waaaaaay too often. If I told you what I pay for health insurance, and that they will not cover my child with moderate OCD, well.....don't get me going. She very well could have had symptoms for years, but was able to hide them, or nobody chose to address them, and without that close support, add to the fact that social services are almost non existent, well...a receipe for diaster. Drugs most definitely add to the mania. This is a very, very sick individual, and while her boyfriend/husband/father of the baby or whatever he is is calling for her execution, and hey, it's Texas, so just may happen, nobody sane could have done this. So, while there is no history of mental illness/drug abuse,does not mean there is none. This sickens me, this whole story. Actually, is there somehing beyond mental illness....demented? Is this a psych category? Because, this is truly beyond the scope of human comprehension, at least to me.

• What does her religion have to do with anything! Big deal she was a Jehovah's Witness...What if she was a catholic? Thats what being a reporter is about...sticking to the important facts...thank god you werent writting the column!!

• Chris, you have hit the issue on the head with your comment. There has got to be a way to make adults who have been diagnosed with psychotic episodes or schizophrenia to take their meds. They are able to implant birth control for three months in women. I wish they would work on something for psych meds (not antidepressants which are prescribed like candy). I know you can't force someone to take a pill each day, it is against their rights to do that. However, most people that are so debilitated by their malady are usually on SSI. In order to keep getting their benefits, it would be good if they have to go to a behavioral clinic for treatment (meds). I think this could work to help the many that are striken by mental health issues. They all get to a point where they think they don't need the meds because they are no longer hearing voices, etc. But when the voices start up again, they are already in the throes of psychosis. I am not sure how one would handle a female of birthing age in this scenario. Perhaps birth control and psych meds could be dispensed simultaneously. However, that is against a patients rights as well. A dilemna for certain. But, one we as a society need to contend with and rectify.

• I believe her mother lives here in Victoria where I live. Insane totally insane. I think she is referring to ecstasy by XXOO's they are commonly called that here. People have no idea what they are using these days. This drug, when created was commonly used in therapy for couples having intimacy issues. Unfortunately it has been greatly altered and is commonly made by idiotic wanna be chemists or drug dealers. There is no telling what frequent use of this designer drug will do to ones psyche. I will pray for this family they must think they are in hell about now.

• If she was schizophrenic, she wouldn't have been on anti-depressants. I agree mostly with bkb. I have an uncle who's schizophrenic, with a history of drug abuse. As long as he takes his prescribed meds for the schizophrenia, he's perfectly rational. But sooner or later, he starts thinking he no longer needs the pills, and stops taking them, and he gets violent -- to the point where the cops get called (he's one of the reasons I moved out of my hometown and refuse to visit longer than a day or so). However, it's that "getting him to take the meds" part, that's the problem. You can't force a grown adult to take meds. You can nag and remind them, but no family member is gonna hold that person down & force them to take meds if the sick person is opposed to it. Yes, the family should've taken steps to make sure that baby was not in her care -- that's the real tragedy (and you can bet that the rest of the family is now having heavy guilt over NOT having done that).

• Glad to see you're back Steve! Well, so far so good. Only two posts screaming for the execution of this woman. She needs heavy psychiatric care, not death. She needs to be studied so we can prevent this type of horrendous crime from happening in the future. News stories like this are slowly making me lose my faith in humanity. Do we as a species really deserve the space we take up on this planet?

• reannan makes a valid point. Many of the currently popular psych meds kill impulse control. In addition, their effects on the human brain are permanent, even after they are stopped. Sure, they undoubtedly save some lives, but we'll never know how many patients lose all coping skills and are no longer of any use to society, because drug companies and shrinks push more and "better" drugs.

• Beyond Jehovah's Witness issues, I would like to see an honest investigation into the effect some of the currently prescriped anti-depreseents, anti-whatever drugs have on people. From a 30,000 foot view of the Earth...something isn't right. Yesterday, I logged onto a headline page, and saw where this woman had decapitated and eaten her infants brains, where a father had murdered his 7 year old daughter before killing himself, and where a judicial decision had to be made about a man who threw his little girl off of a cliff. There is something about our society that makes it hard for some people to cope apparently. Which is ridiculous because this society was founded by people who left their homeland to travel to a strange land and buried their children due to tragic natural disasters along the way as they moved westward in wagon trains - never even being able to go back and visit the grave site. How did we get from there to now??? Drugs - legal and illegal. Something needs to be done about this problem, and there needs to be an investigation into the side effects of anti-depressents; anti-whatevers. Some of these drugs are dangerous. MOO. :(

• Please tell me what being a Jehovahs Witness has to do with this woman brutally murdering her child???? Nothing! not a damn thing. People murder and commit other outrageous crimes every single day from all religious backgrounds. So of course I had to check out the website listed above, what a waste of time, just another hatefilled site discriminating against a religion, might as well of went to stormfront.com..lol.Anyways this woman, Otty had been under psychiatric care for schizophrenia and post partum depression and was not taking her medication, so there's your reason for why she committed this act, another mental case, non-compliant with taking her meds, surrounded by friends,family, and "baby daddy" that did nothing to ensure either of them were safe, brings to mind Andrea Yates.

• Beyond being a Jehovah's Witness, Otty Sanchez is mad. Mad, crazy, looney. And for her crimes I would be HAPPY to flip the switch.

• Otty Sanchez was a Jehovah's Witness -- as was her own mother. Why has the media deleted that fact from most reports? Here is the first of 10 webpages devoted to murders and other crimes committed by JWs: jwdivorces.bravehost.com/familicide.html

• Dallas detectives need help finding a man who they say killed a teenager Aug. 27,2006 outside a gas station. Police say Juan Carlos Valdez fatally beat and shot 17-year-old Robert Lamont Wallace in the early hours on that Sunday at 2313 S. Buckner Blvd. Mr. Valdez is described as a 22-year-old Hispanic man who is about 5 feet 3 inches and weighs 185 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes and is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Robert Quirk at 214-671-3661. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET HELP FOR THE PAST ALMOST 3YRS. NO RESULTS. PLEASE WOULD SOMEBODY HELP US? PLEASE? For suspect's picture. Go to www.dallaspolice.net 10 most wanted.

• @ RaVen: "is there any point in keeping her alive?" Wow - how arrogant can it get.... Since when do "we" keep anyone alive? How many children did you save from starving today? You condemn someone for killing and in the same sentence claim the right to take her out as if that wasn't murder? What reasoning do you need from anyone for not killing or wanting to kill ANYONE? This woman may be a monster or sick or whatever - it is beyond my imagination why anyone would commit such an horrific act. But then I am sometimes really glad we don't have the death penalty as many people's fates were to depend on often over rushed (bad) judgement.

• Animals do that, sometimes. When I was a kid, I had a hamster that ate her babies. Mom said it was because she felt "threatened." I suppose on a primitive, non-cerebral level, the insane woman could be putting the kid back where he came from, inside her body. Poor little guy may be better off for it, sad to say.

• Welcome back, Steve, you were missed very much by very many. Could someone please just "accidentally" take this mad dog of a woman(?) out of our world where she has no business being? Is there a point to keeping her alive, really? If anyone thinks that there is, I would love to hear their reasoning.

• Welcome back Steve. You really picked a big ole stallion to use to get back in the saddle! OMG! This woman ate her child's brains "and other parts". Just when you think you've heard all the nastiest shit in life, this biotch comes along and takes the friggin cake. Wow, can you say thorazine drip?, full frontal lobotomy? This woman never need recall what she's done, just keep her doped up and locked away.

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