Texas Mom Accused of Setting Kids On Fire

A mother drowns her five children in the bathtub. A woman beats her sons to death with rocks. Now a suburban mom is accused of dousing her three daughters with gasoline and setting them on fire.

Some of the most horrific examples of mothers killing or injuring their children have happened in Texas, though experts suspect the nation's second-most populated state hasn't seen more than its share of such attacks.

"Some cases become high-profile because the public gets more interested in dramatic cases," said Jill Korbin, an anthropology professor and director of the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

In the latest case, neighbors said a 7-year-old pulled from a burning house Saturday with her two younger sisters screamed, "Why mommy? Why mommy? Why did you do this to me?"

Alysha Green, 29, accused of coaxing her children into a closet and burning them, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but stopped taking her medication, according to documents filed by Child Protective Services.

Adam Green also told investigators his wife's behavior worsened in the last three weeks and that she previously threatened to set him on fire, the agency said.

Three-year-old Ariania Green died Tuesday after being removed from life support. About 90 percent of the girl's body was burned, according to court documents.

The older girls - Alexandria, 5, with burns covering about 40 percent of her body, and Adamiria, 7, with burns covering nearly 20 percent of her body - remain hospitalized, though their precise conditions have not been released.

"Whoever takes care of these children will have to understand that they will need ongoing medical care," said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, which was granted temporary custody of the girls after the fire.

Police have said Alysha Green will be charged with capital murder.

Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty, assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Alana Minton said. Green also has been charged with serious bodily injury to a child, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The mother, who is hospitalized with burns on her feet, does not yet have an attorney, Minton said.

Experts say women who turn against their children do it for a variety of reasons, including mental illness, abuse that turned deadly or revenge against the youngsters' father. Others intend to commit suicide, and decide also to kill their children so they won't be left alone, said Geoffrey McKee, author of "Why Mothers Kill: A Forensic Psychologist's Casebook."

Nearly 1,500 children died from abuse or neglect in 2005 - more than a fourth those at the hands of their mothers, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families.

Cheryl L. Meyer, co-author of "Mothers Who Kill Their Children: Understanding the Acts of Mothers from Susan Smith to the Prom Mom," said she studied about 200 cases of mothers who killed their offspring.

"In almost every case, people knew what was going on and just didn't step up to the plate," Meyer said. "In some cases, social services were available but the mothers didn't access them, sometimes over fear of losing their kids. The last person who will tell you they have a mental illness is people with mental illnesses."

In 1994, South Carolina mother Susan Smith rolled her car into a lake, killing her two toddler sons strapped inside. In 1998, Khoua Her killed her six children in St. Paul, Minn., and tried to hang herself.

Last month in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, Andrea Roberts shot her husband and 11- and 7-year-old children to death before killing herself. In May, Gilberta Estrada hanged herself and her four children - ages 8 months to 5 years - in their Hudson Oaks mobile home. Only the youngest survived.

Police could not determine a motive in either case, but Estrada had lived in a women's shelter for several months after obtaining a protective order against her common-law husband.

Several Texas cases have involved mental illness.

Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death with rocks and injured a third in East Texas. Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her two daughters in a Plano bathtub, and Dena Schlosser severed her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a kitchen knife in 2004.

All four of those women were found innocent by reason of insanity and sent to state mental hospitals. Yates initially was convicted of capital murder, but that verdict was overturned.

Some mothers maintain their innocence, such as Darlie Routier, who remains on Texas' death row after being convicted of stabbing two of her young sons to death in the Dallas suburb of Rowlett in 1996.

Experts say more awareness by families and community services are crucial in preventing such tragedies.

"If you have no other support, you're in a box," McKee said.