Monday, July 10, 2023

Six Children Killed by their Mother on This Day in History

This day in history: On this day in 1940, Louise Nicosia sealed the windows in her Bronx apartment and turned on all the jets on her gas stove and killed all of her 6 children. 

She left a note stating that she had "nothing to look forward to in life."

Parental infanticide researchers have found that mothers are more likely to commit infanticide. In the special case of neonaticide (murder in the first 24 hours of life), mothers account for almost all the perpetrators. Fatherly cases of neonaticide are so rare that they are individually recorded.

There are various reasons for infanticide. Neonaticide typically has different patterns and causes than for the killing of older infants. Traditional neonaticide is often related to economic necessity – the inability to provide for the infant.

In the United Kingdom and the United States, older infants are typically killed for reasons related to child abuse, domestic violence or mental illness. For infants older than one day, younger infants are more at risk, and boys are more at risk than girls. Risk factors for the parent include: Family history of violence, violence in a current relationship, history of abuse or neglect of children, and personality disorder and/or depression.


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