Toddlers at center of custody dispute are drowned in bathtub - mother suspected

[Ninja0980]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Parents+boys+found+dead+Alberta+home+were+custody+ dispute/2513132/story.html

EDMONTON — The parents of two young boys found dead in the bathroom of their home southeast of Edmonton were in a custody dispute over their sons, say court documents.

The mother, Allyson McConnell, wanted to take the boys — aged 2 1/2 years and 10 months — back to her native Australia. The father, Curtis, was fighting the attempt.

“Recently, the respondent has been threatening me that she wants to move back to Australia with our children. I am completely opposed to this and I am fearful that she will attempt to do this without my consent or knowledge,” Curtis McConnell wrote in a sworn affidavit filed Dec. 11, 2009, in connection with the couple’s divorce proceedings.

Police investigators spent much of Tuesday at the McConnell home in the community of Millet, southeast of Edmonton. A neighbour told The Journal that she saw the lifeless bodies of the two little boys, Jayden and Connor, on the bathroom floor.

The woman, a neighbour who was a friend of the family, said she went into the home after their frantic father showed up at her door around 3 p.m. Monday. “He was hysterical. I’ve never seen him like that,” she said. “At first I didn’t believe him.”

The neighbour who saw the bodies said police told her later that the mother had tried to kill herself by jumping off a bridge in Edmonton on Monday afternoon. Edmonton police say a woman jumped off Gateway Boulevard bridge at about 2:15 p.m. Monday and landed on the Whitemud Freeway. She was taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries.

I didn't paste it but you'll see the usual he/she loved the kids more than anything. BULL, if you love your kids, you don't drown them in a bathtub.
IMO, it boiled down to if she couldn't have the kids, neither could he. Not love, just pure selfishness.

[backlash]

Damn, I always hate the pictures...

http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/backlash_photo/2514197.jpg

[Ninja0980]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Hundreds+shed+tear+beloved+boys/2532523/story.html

WETASKIWIN — Family members from both sides of a bitter divorce gathered at a church southeast of Edmonton on Saturday to mourn two little boys found dead in a bathtub at their home last week.

"Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy," Rev. Tim Wray said of the boys' mother, Allyson McConnell, who is currently undergoing psychiatric assessment in hospital after an apparent suicide attempt on the same day as her boys were found dead.

Police have ruled the deaths of two-year-old Connor and his 10-month-old brother, Jayden, were homicides, but no charges have been laid.

The couple was in the midst of divorce proceedings, arguing over custody of the boys.
I expect charges will be forthcoming against the bio unit soon. This sounds like nothing more than a case of if I can't have the kids, neither will you.

[TOMAR]

Here is a link to the facebook page created for the boys...
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=280702222797&share_id=284714448511&comments=1#!/group.php?v=photos&gid=280702222797

[Angelinfl]

This is so sad. It speaks of no respect for the children's lives themselves. Parents need not take their revenge for each other out on the children and learn to co-parent and work together.

Seems people should have mental examinations and licenses before they have children.

This is such a sad thing to have happen for all involved in both families.

I hate reading things like this!

[myra manes]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Parents+boys+found+dead+Alberta+home+were+custody+ dispute/2513132/story.html

EDMONTON — The parents of two young boys found dead in the bathroom of their home southeast of Edmonton were in a custody dispute over their sons, say court documents.

The mother, Allyson McConnell, wanted to take the boys — aged 2 1/2 years and 10 months — back to her native Australia. The father, Curtis, was fighting the attempt.

“Recently, the respondent has been threatening me that she wants to move back to Australia with our children. I am completely opposed to this and I am fearful that she will attempt to do this without my consent or knowledge,” Curtis McConnell wrote in a sworn affidavit filed Dec. 11, 2009, in connection with the couple’s divorce proceedings.

Police investigators spent much of Tuesday at the McConnell home in the community of Millet, southeast of Edmonton. A neighbour told The Journal that she saw the lifeless bodies of the two little boys, Jayden and Connor, on the bathroom floor.

The woman, a neighbour who was a friend of the family, said she went into the home after their frantic father showed up at her door around 3 p.m. Monday. “He was hysterical. I’ve never seen him like that,” she said. “At first I didn’t believe him.”

The neighbour who saw the bodies said police told her later that the mother had tried to kill herself by jumping off a bridge in Edmonton on Monday afternoon. Edmonton police say a woman jumped off Gateway Boulevard bridge at about 2:15 p.m. Monday and landed on the Whitemud Freeway. She was taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries.

I didn't paste it but you'll see the usual he/she loved the kids more than anything. BULL, if you love your kids, you don't drown them in a bathtub.
IMO, it boiled down to if she couldn't have the kids, neither could he. Not love, just pure selfishness.

Edmonton??? :eek:

Millet is not far from me at all ..
I used to have a gf who lived there, it's only a 15 minute drive ..

[AngelFire]

This is beyond making my blood boil. Parents involved in custody disputes should take their children's well being into consideration!!! This is the worst of the worst.

My parents did the same damn thing, and my mom's response to my dad's demands was identical to this woman. I am glad that someone slapped the shit out of my mom. She told my dad that if he wanted custody of my sisters and I, he could have us but in our caskets.

[tmdgirl]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100223/national/crime_toddler_deaths


EDMONTON - The mother of two little boys found dead in the bathtub of their Millet, Alta., home has been charged with their murder.


RCMP say Allyson McConnell, who is now in custody in a medical facility under 24-hour watch, faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 10-month-old Jayden and his two-and-a-half-year-old brother Connor



Court documents show the family was in the midst of a bitter divorce. Custody of the children was a major issue, especially since Allyson had expressed a desire to return to Australia.


In an affidavit, Curtis said Allyson had been threatening me that she wants to move back to Australia with our children. I am fearful that she will attempt to do this without my consent or knowledge


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alberta+charged+with+murder+young+sons/2602367/2532557.bin
R.I.P. Jayden and Connor. May you fly with the angels now little ones.

[TheMeaningOfItAll]

How awful. She didn't love her kids more than she hated her husband. For crying out loud, I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around these people that hurt their children...:argh:

[Abroad]

Taking the younger one to Oz would not have been in his best interest. He didn't have the skin-tone for that sun.



Quite apart from that, I find it aggravating that the mother is still around after killing the children that she would presumably claim she wanted with her. Lost her bottle when the time came to kill herself, did she? Or was that never on her agenda in the first place?

[tmdgirl]

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2010/02/23/tp-edm-mcconnell-family.jpg


McConnell will remain under 24-hour supervision in a medical facility until it is determined she is well enough to be moved to a correctional facility. That decision would be made by medical officials, Oakes said.

Privacy laws prohibit the RCMP from releasing details about McConnell's medical condition.




Edmonton police said a woman tried to kill herself by jumping off an overpass in the south end of the city an hour before the boys' bodies were found. They have never released the woman's identity.

RCMP did confirm a car connected to the McConnell's Millet home was found in a nearby parking lot.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/02/23/edmonton-millet-boys-murder-charges.html

[Hellsbells]

Ninja Posted This A couple weeks ago http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30238&highlight=Allyson+McConnell

[Abroad]

tried to kill herself by jumping off an overpass

Fail.

She probably broke her leg or something stupid like that. If she'd meant to kill herself, she would have found something higher to jump off. :rant:

[tmdgirl]

Darn. I thought I had seen something on this but couldn't find it before I posted this thread. Thanks for letting me know.

How do I get this one combined with the other thread?

[AngelFire]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100223/national/crime_toddler_deaths





http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Alberta+charged+with+murder+young+sons/2602367/2532557.bin
R.I.P. Jayden and Connor. May you fly with the angels now little ones.

Oh, I would so have loved these two. When my kids get older, I am going to be a foster mom. Those baby boys were lovely. *sniff*

[Whisper]

Alberta mom's state of mind at crux of murder trial

The murder trial of an Alberta woman accused of drowning her young sons has begun, two years after the two were found dead by their father in the bathtub of their Millet home.

Crown prosecutor Gordon Hatch told the court the case is not one of who, what, where or when, but of why. The case will come down to Justice Michelle Crighton deciding Allyson McConnell's state of mind when she drowned her two children, he said.

McConnell, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of 10-month-old Jayden and Connor, 2. Their bodies were found by their father, Curtis McConnell, in the bathtub of their Millet home, 40 kilometres south of Edmonton, on Feb. 1, 2010.

On Monday morning, the accused, wearing a grey suit and looking solemn but alert, entered a not-guilty plea shortly after entering the Wetaskiwin courtroom.

Accused under suicide watch

Her lawyer, Peter Royal, told the court McConnell suffers from "significant depression" and needs to be under a constant suicide watch.

McConnell's mother, sister and grandmother sat on one side of the courtroom, while her former husband's father and sister sat on the other.

Curtis McConnell was not in the courtroom. He is scheduled to testify sometime this week.

The boys were last seen alive Jan, 29, 2010, when they went with others to a swimming play date in nearby Leduc, said Hatch. That night, McConnell tried to give away a number of items, including car seats, a computer and cameras, he said.

According to an agreed statement of facts, McConnell tried to commit suicide in the home after drowning the boys. She then drove to Edmonton, parking at the southside Toys "R" Us store and walking to the Delta Hotel to order lunch.

"She became emotional during her time at the hotel, so she left and walked back to the overpass where Calgary Trail passes over Whitemud Drive," the statement said. "She then jumped over the edge, falling into the eastbound lanes of Whitemud Drive."

McConnell fractured her collarbone, legs and pelvis.

The McConnells were separated and were involved in a custody battle, with Allyson angry at her husband for taking steps to ensure she could not return home to Australia, Hatch said.

McConnell wanted to move back to Australia with the boys, but their father refused. Three months before their deaths, a judge ruled the boys had to stay in Canada for the time being.

McConnell is being held at Alberta Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Edmonton.
[...]http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/alberta-moms-state-of-mind-at-crux-of-murder-trial

[Whisper]

An Alberta woman who drowned her two young sons in a bathtub told a crowded courtroom today she could not remember what happened that weekend two years ago.

Allyson McConnell cried as she looked at pictures of the bathroom in her Millet home where the boys were found by their father Feb. 1, 2010.

Asked by her lawyer whether she had drowned Connor, two, and 10-month-old Jayden, McConnell said, "It is my understanding." Asked whether she remembers doing it, she said, "I do not."

But during cross-examination Monday afternoon, McConnell testified that three months into her therapy at Alberta Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Edmonton, she dreamt about Connor being at the bottom of the bathtub.

"He was looking up at me. He was calling out for me," she said. "I could actually hear him but I couldn't reach him."

When asked if she also had an image of Jayden in the tub, McConnell replied: "I could have. I don't know."

McConnell, testifying in her own defence in a Wetaskiwin courtroom, is being tried on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of her two sons.

The defence hopes to establish that McConnell cannot be held legally responsible because she suffered from mental illness and was unable to form the intent to murder.

McConnell said she took sleeping pills and drank Bacardi Breezers, an alcoholic soda, on Friday night Jan. 29, 2010.

"I hoped I would overdose," she said. "I was totally overwhelmed."

No answer

Asked whether her older son was alive while she consumed the alcohol, she said she had no answer.

She told the court she remembered waking up vomiting with a metallic taste in her mouth.

She also remembers waking up in the bathtub holding electrical appliances. "It was dark," she said. Previous testimony indicated a breaker had tripped.

She told the court, not only can she not recall drowning her sons, she's still trying to figure out why she did it.

She was adamant she loved her sons and never had thoughts of harming them, only of hurting herself.

Her former husband, Curtis McConnell, who found the boys dead in the tub Monday, stifled his sobs in the front row of courtroom gallery.

Allyson McConnell, looking thin and drawn, stared at her lawyer as she took the witness box. She seemed stumped when her lawyer, Peter Royal, asked her age.

"I'm 33 years old, I believe," she said after a pause, explaining, "I haven't kept track of it recently."

Since the drownings, McConnell has made numerous suicide attempts.

McConnell attempted suicide for the first time after becoming pregnant by her own father at 15, she told the court, adding she subsequently had a miscarriage at 10 weeks and told no one about it.

"I didn't think my life was worth living," McConnell testified.

Bitter custody battle

Her former husband sat in the front row of the crowded courtroom, leaning forward as she began testifying about the start of their relationship.

McConnell said she met Curtis on his birthday in 2006 while both worked at a resort in British Columbia.

The McConnells were involved in difficult divorce proceedings and a bitter custody battle before the boys died. The couple had separated in March 2009, a month after Jayden was born.

Her pregnancy with Jayden was unexpected, she told the court Monday, adding she found out about it just as she landed a job in Leduc, Alta.

A judge prevented McConnell from returning to her native Australia with the boys three months before she killed them.

During the trial, McConnell has sat hunched over in the prisoner's box, not making eye contact with anyone. She only showed emotion when her ex-husband described finding the boys in a bathtub filled with water at the family's Millet home, 40 kilometres south of Edmonton.

Her psychiatrist is expected to testify this week followed by McConnell's sister and mother
[...]http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/alberta-mom-cannot-recall-drowning-her-sons

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Outrage at McConnell sentence
In-laws angry as mother who killed sons given extra 15 months

Allyson Mc-Connell barely blinked as she learned of her sentence: An additional 15 months in custody for the drowning deaths of her two sons, with a recommendation she serve the time in continued psychiatric care at Alberta Hospital.

Across the courtroom, McConnell's former father-in-law stood, face flushed with anger, as court adjourned.

"Bloody joke," Jim McConnell said.

McConnell, 33, was convicted in April of two counts of manslaughter in the deaths of her sons, 10-month-old Jayden and 2-1/2-year-old Connor. She drowned the boys in a bathtub of the family home in Millet in 2010.

Originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder, McConnell was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter after Justice Michelle Crighton ruled there was a reasonable doubt about whether the depressed mother had the intent required for a murder conviction. On Monday, Crighton sentenced McConnell to six years in prison on each charge. The terms are to be served concurrently. The sentence is reduced to 15 months to take into account the time McConnell has already spent in custody.
[...]

Crighton said the sentence must balance McConnell's mental state and degree of responsibility, while reflecting "the legitimate need to bring to justice those who have engaged in violence, especially toward children."

After the sentencing, the children's father, Curtis McConnell, stood in the hallway outside court with his family, shaking his head.

His father, Jim McConnell, could be heard calling the sentence "crazy.

"It's ridiculous," Jim said. "This is absolutely ridiculous. This is a gong show."

Curtis's mother, Audrey McConnell, said the sentence was "just wrong."

Crown prosecutor Gordon Hatch, who had been asking for a prison term of 12 years, said he, too, was disappointed.

"I respect the process; I disagree with the sentence. When I said 12 years, that was my view of what an appropriate sentence would be."

The Crown is appealing the manslaughter convictions, seeking to have McConnell convicted of second

A successful appeal would have a significant impact on the sentence.

Second-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter.
[...]

In a 15-page written decision, Crighton noted that McConnell suffered severe trauma herself as a child, and was widely known to be a kind and loving mother who had never previously harmed her sons.

In sentencing, Crighton said it was in society's interest that McConnell not only be punished, but also rehabilitated if possible.

Speaking outside court, Hatch said no sentence would adequately reflect the deaths of the two children.

"If the judge had imposed 15 years or 20 years or life in prison, that's not enough for these two children," he said.

"We can't equate the number of years or months a person serves in jail with the value of two young children's lives.

"There's no way to do that. "The law doesn't recognize that.

"We somehow have to get past that analysis in our own minds."

Hatch noted McConnell is still suicidal and in psychiatric care, and may never return freely to the community.
[...]
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Outrage+McConnell+sentence/6730680/story.html

[Whisper]

saw this on news here lastnight but fell asleep
dont really know what to say really
sad all the way around

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Canada Kicks Out Killer Mom; Deports Her To Australia

http://i0.simplest-image-hosting.net/picture/20130410-07.jpg (http://simplest-image-hosting.net/jpg-0-20130410-07)
BABY killer Allyson McConnell landed in Sydney yesterday - leaving behind the graves of her two sons, a shattered ex-husband and political fallout that has rocked the Canadian legal system.

The 34-year-old looked gaunt after the 16-hour journey from Alberta after a last-minute bid to stay her deportation on Friday failed.

McConnell was released on Thursday after serving two-thirds of a 15-month sentence in a psychiatric ward after drowning her sons Connor, 2½, and 10-month-old Jayden in a bathtub before jumping off a freeway overpass three years ago.

With her mother Helen Meager by her side, McConnell refused to answer questions as older sister Ros Meager pushed a luggage trolley to the carpark.
[...]

She was released after 10 months under a standard Canadian prisoner credit scheme. Her estranged husband Curtis McConnell said his distraught family was "ashamed" at Canada's legal system: "We fear ... we will never see her face justice for the horror and terror she inflicted on two innocent babies before killing them."

Prosecutors had appealed against both the verdict and sentence but a five-month delay meant it was not listed for hearing before a deportation order was issued under the country's strict laws to remove non-citizens immediately after their sentence expires.

Provincial prosecutors argued they could not contest the deportation order, which falls under federal jurisdiction, sparking angry exchanges between Alberta's Justice Minister Jonathan Denis, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and McConnell's solicitor Peter Royal. Mr Denis said Alberta would, if possible, seek an extradition order for McConnell.http://www.news.com.au/national-news/nsw-act/dead-eyes-of-aussie-child-killer-allyson-mcconnell/story-fndo4bst-1226617712353


Mr McConnell filed a $C940,000 ($903,000) civil suit against his former wife and, along with prosecutors, was furious with the 15-month sentence.

Prosecutors lodged an appeal against the murder dismissal and the length of sentence, but last Thursday Ms McConnell, after serving 10 months in an Alberta psychiatric hospital, was made eligible for release.

Mr McConnell fears his former wife could kill again in Australia.

"Will anyone there know about the murders she committed here?" he asked. "Being only 34 years old, will she start a new family and have another child in her care?"http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ashenfaced-child-killer-allyson-mcconnell-returns-to-sydney-20130410-2hkcn.html

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Allyson McConnell is quoted by the Australian newspaper the Sunday Telegraph in a story posted on its website Saturday that she “wouldn’t say no” to more children.

McConnell was given a six-year prison sentence after her sons Connor, 2, and 10-month-old Jayden were drowned in a bathtub in 2010 in the family home in Millet, south of Edmonton.
[...]

McConnell told the newspaper she is trying to get over what has happened to her.

She said she is also a victim.

“There have been a lot of things written about me being a bad mother,” McConnell, 34, told the Sunday Telegraph.

“I wasn’t a bad mother, I was actually a very loving mother. But you never hear about that.”

The Crown has said it intends to appeal both McConnell’s conviction and sentence.

Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said earlier this month that the province intended to contact Australian officials to notify them that McConnell is a person of interest.

He says if the Crown is successful in persuading the courts to increase McConnell’s sentence, the province would try to extradite her from Australia to serve more time.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/28/woman-convicted-of-drowning-children-in-alberta-denies-being-bad-motherreport/