If you haven’t been following the story, a 4-year-old girl went missing in May while she was vacationing with her family in Portugal. As the story originally went, she went missing while her parents were dining in the hotel restaurant. She was sleeping in the hotel room with her 2-year-old siblings.
I have no idea why any parents who care about the children would even seriously entertain the idea of leaving toddler and preschool children alone in a hotel room. Regardless how often they went back to check on them.
It gets better.
The parents are now suspects in the case. Apparently, forensic investigation turned up traces of blood in the parents’ car.
If I thought I had no idea why parents would leave their young children alone in a hotel room, I am completely baffled why they would kill their daughter. At the very least, why they would cover up her death.
This whole story breaks my heart. My got tells me that the parents could not have done what they’ve been accused of. Perhaps we should withhold judgment until a proper trial is held. There is just so much sadness in the whole story.
just like no one could believe Susan Smith let her 4 small sons in their van and slid it in the water watching them drown. Or the other mother who said the voices made her drown all her children in the bathtub. Obviously not all of sound mind and body. Like you Kim, I shake my head and wonder at the insanity of it all and what would drive an adult to do that to their child.
I don’t think they did it either. It breaks my heart as well. I do think it was crazy of them to leave them alone in a hotel room, but they are paying for that decision too much now.
I think though, with Susan Smith and (dang it her name is on the tip of my tongue) the other mother, post partum depression was involved. Or rather, post partum psychosis which is a more serious matter altogether. If people were more aware of the warning signs, those tragedies would have been prevented, but I am sure they were told to “snap out of it” when they expressed any feelings of depression.
The name of the other mother was Andrea Yates. In her case, however, had she not be left alone with the children, I think they would still be alive to day. As for the missing girl in Portugal, I don’t think it at all unlikely that the parents may have been involved. Statistics indicate that it is more likely for a killer to be a family member or acquaintance than a complete stranger.