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Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Every Child Needs a Mother and a Father

posted by on March 6 at 17:23 PM

“I’ve got her, and you’re not going to get her.”

Beth Johnson heard those words from her ex-husband Monday morning, shortly before he crashed his rented single-engine plane into his former mother-in-law’s southern Indiana home, killing himself and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter.

The mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, gave the account of the cell phone call Tuesday as federal and state investigators were trying to determine why Eric Johnson, a student pilot who had soloed before, strapped daughter Emily into the passenger seat of the Cessna and took off from Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport….

The plane had already crashed but the occupants hadn’t been identified when Beth Johnson arrived at the Bedford Police Department to file a missing person report because her daughter hadn’t arrived at school that morning after spending the weekend with her father, Bedford Police Maj. Dennis Parsley said Tuesday…

“It is just gut-wrenching to think about what was happening to that child just prior to the crash”.

RSS icon Comments

1

let us pray - what a horror

Posted by rorry | March 6, 2007 5:44 PM
2

God these stories are depressing.

Posted by Sean | March 6, 2007 5:44 PM
3

Ah, man. It was not cool to read that first thing when I logged on to slog this evening.

Posted by depressed | March 6, 2007 5:45 PM
4

The site of this story, Bedford, IN, is my hometown. My mom works at a junior high not far from the eight year old's school. The airport from which the plane took off is literally a quarter of a mile from her house (my childhood home). I know personally the police officer they interviewed. He was Officer Friendly when I was in school. I'm saying that Bedford is a very small community. Yes, send your good thoughts, please. And parents everywhere, stop taking your shit out on your kids.

Posted by greendyke | March 6, 2007 5:56 PM
5

These stories make me sad too.

Posted by monkey | March 6, 2007 6:08 PM
6

These stories break my heart. My son is eight. Somehow you can't read shit like this without picturing it happening to your own kid--not that you would do it to your kid, but you can't help but picture your own kid's panic and terror. It makes my psychotic.

Posted by Dan Savage | March 6, 2007 6:21 PM
7

A few years back a woman in my hometown, distraught over her failed marriage, strapped her kids and herself into her pickup truck and drove into the Missouri River right by the waterworks where the river runs swift and deep.

What a total, world-class, selfish bitch.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | March 6, 2007 9:41 PM
8

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/06/babyas.weapon.ap/index.html

Dan,
Here's one for you. Mom uses baby as weapon to beat her boyfriend.

Quote" She testified that Graham told her, "I swung him. I swung him like a bat.""

oh happy days!

Posted by npeters | March 7, 2007 8:43 AM
9

"...federal and state investigators were trying to determine why Eric Johnson..."

Anyone with experience dealing with abusive partners already understand the answers investigators are searching for.

I firmly believe my ex would have committed a similar act if I remained "legally" bound in our relationship. My ex is a 'text-book' abuser.

It's hate and revenge, but it is also something greatly misunderstood by the general public. In the public's view, a stranger committing a criminal act is worse than a spouse or partner.

The consequences of abusive behavior for someone in a position of trust (a spouse or partner) should actually be more harsh than what a total stranger receives.

An abusive partner is a criminal capable of criminal acts. It is not a domestic or marital "spat" or "messy divorce."

Posted by Doni | March 7, 2007 9:19 AM
10

#8: looks like that bitch got a good beat-down.

Posted by him | March 7, 2007 11:02 AM

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