Cops: Ky. Woman Killed Daughters, Self

Girls, 8, 9, Die Of Stab Wounds In Home; Woman Shot

(AP)  Police were still trying to determine Tuesday why a Louisville woman apparently stabbed her two school-age daughters to death and then shot herself.

A family member stopped by the house just before 7:30 p.m. EDT Monday and found the bodies, Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said.

Investigators believe the woman killed her daughters then shot herself, Smiley said.

Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Bob Jones identified the mother as Hope Orwick, 35, who he said died of a gunshot wound to the head. The girls were Emily Orwick, 9, and Lindsey Orwick, 8.

Jones said both girls died of stab wounds but he couldn't say how many times they were stabbed. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.

Two chaplains were at the scene Monday night, and Smiley said 15 or so family members gathered there. Police talked to relatives to see if they could help explain what may have led to the deaths.

Neighbor Mechelle Rockey, 48, told The Courier-Journal that she has lived across the street from the family for about six months. She said the two girls often played outside.

"They were the sweetest little girls," Rockey said. "They were cute as a button."

Neighborhood children were distraught over the girls' deaths, Rockey said.

"They all played together," she said.

[suemamma]

"Even if the story had 600 paragraphs telling every minute detail, there is absolutely no justification or excuse in killing children ,period."

I wasn''t trying to imply that any of what was done was justified, simply trying to understand where any sense of compassion has gone when it comes to others around us. We sit back and say "Oh, how awful. She must have been nuts to have done such a thing, what a horrible excuse for a mother." without even knowing why, as if it would make a difference in the outcome at this point. Either way the damage is done and we need not add insult to injury at anyone''s expense. I have 3 children of my own, a boy-4, 2 gilrs-7 and 9, so this really took me back. It kills me that children have to be drawn into their parents torment and can only hope that if this woman had felt there were any other choices, she would have gladly taken them over taking her life and the lives of her own children, but in this case obviously she didn''t. Children die too often at the hands of their parents and there is never any good that comes out of it and there certainly needn''t be more harm added to it for those left behind in the wake of it all. I am sure all three of them were loved and all three were lost and are grieved for. Why drag any of them through the mud, it only serves to perpetuate the rage and anguish it started with. May God rest their souls and bring peace to their families.

[momoftwp]

Way too many ignorant comments on here to address them one by one. I doubt any of you actually understand mental illness. This woman was OBVIOUSLY not thinking in a rational manner. It''s easy for you all to sit back and say...."she should have done this" or "I could never do that" or "well, if her family/friends would have been paying more attention this wouldn''t have happened." IGNORANT- every last comment like this! You don''t understand what depression can do. You don''t understand how well people can mask things. You don''t understand any of it!

Of course I''m not saying this is all ok. It''s horrifying. My heart is breaking for the entire family. I cannot imagine feeling so lost and depressed that this would seem like the only option. The truth is, we have no clue what was going on in her life and in her mind. I will not cast judgements.

[llcool43]

From mydiatribe: "Schools are obligated to advise children of signs to look out for that their parents may be on the verge of a meltdown."

So now its the school''s fault. Schools can''t teach everything, they might as well be the parents. Like the neighbors and families have stated "there wasn''t any signs of killing" until this weekeend when the mother wasn''t herself, but how could anybody have known she would do this. Now that it has happened, everybody needs to advise their children of what signs to look out for cause you could be the next one - DON''t GET IT TWISTED! Schools aren''t obligated..where in the school code does it state that "schools/teachers are also psychiatrists". This is a tragic that we all can learn from and if you know of anybody that has xperienced the death of a loved one by way of a tragic death, than be there for them, stay in contact with them and beware of any abnormal behavior- better yet, just be a listening ear for them. Eventually, the more a person confides in someone, than the chances are greater that their underlying pain and feelings will surface.
STAY in TUNE!!

[aggiekat2004]

Oh, and one other thing.

My grandmother was so hateful to me my whole life...she was nice to my face but then told others horrible things about me. She returned every gift I ever gave her. She complained that I didn''t come to see her enough. Thank you-s for gifts had to be written...a phone call wasn''t good enough.

So about five years ago, I cut her off. I quit talking to her. It was too much effort for too little in return.

It took about two years, and she''s more pleasant now. But it took me a couple of years of therapy to realize that she had blown past my boundaries, and that effort in didn''t equal what I got back.

[aggiekat2004]

I wish my 4 grown children would appreciate me more as a parent. I was young and raised them on my own...and didn''t stab them, cook them in a microwave or tie them in a car headed for a lake. They never even call to see if I am still breathing. Guess I should thank God they don''t come and kill me. ------------------------------

In my own experience, the more my grandmother complained about anything and everything I did, the less I wanted to come visit.

My fiancee''s mother...when she learned we got engaged...said "well, tell him that I need him to come fix my computer before he gets married, because I''m never going to see him anymore." No congratulations, nothing...and we''re on good terms.

For those of you who have kids that don''t want to come visit...ask yourself a question. When your kids visit, do you guilt them about not coming more often? Do you berate them for things that they did in the past? Do you criticize them for gaining weight, bad job decisions, or anything else?

If you make it a happy visit, they will want to come back. If you feel pushback, then seriously look within yourself to see if there''s something YOU''RE doing that may make them not want to come around.

[aggiekat2004]

"Aren%u2019t we proud of how judgmental and callous we can be at the drop of a hat, for any given tragedy?"
------------

I think it''s because we''re all tired of seeing tragedies like this, then watching the mother who survived claim a "mental illness" defense or say that "God made her kill her children."

We see this time and time again, and see these women get off with no punishment whatsoever.

Perhaps they''ll rot in hell for what they''ve done...but in my opinion their deaths couldn''t come too soon.

They''ll never get the death penalty, and the families never get peace.

[jankebenz]

Posted by SueMamma at 05:03 PM : Oct 07, 2008

Even if the story had 600 paragraphs telling every minute detail, there is absolutely no justification or excuse in killing children ,period. If this woman had enough of life then she at least could have left the children with family or the state like the father did with his kids a while back.

[suemamma]

It is likely that no one who posted the harsh, mind-numbingly insensitive comments earlier, has any more knowledge of what happened other than the six short paragraphs that were printed, with little to no information, than anyone else that has posted, including myself. Aren%u2019t we proud of how judgmental and callous we can be at the drop of a hat, for any given tragedy? How we can put aside our own sense of compassion and empathy as long as we can push our own selfish agenda? How knowing that knowing why and how something happened doesn%u2019t make it any less a tragedy, and turn it into something that gives us yet another opportunity to rip people we know nothing about apart on the world-wide web in front of every eye that crosses it. How the friends and families of those actually touched by this also get to see it picked apart and analyzed by hateful, bitter onlookers that have nothing to gain but a sense of their own self-worth out of the tragedy of others. My heart goes out to the lives lost to this horrific end to their short lives no matter what the cause and the ones left to clean up after the mess and heartache they are left with when something like this happens. Finally, my most sincere pity and contempt goes out to those that seek to gain some sense of pious gratification in pointing fingers and spitting blame and judgment out whenever people are at their lowest. It makes me glad to have a heart, even when it breaks over someone elses loss.

[docpeter1953]

I wish my 4 grown children would appreciate me more as a parent. I was young and raised them on my own...and didn''''''''t stab them, cook them in a microwave or tie them in a car headed for a lake. They never even call to see if I am still breathing. Guess I should thank God they don''''''''t come and kill me.

Posted by Bizzybirdy

_______________________

Jiminee, You sound as if you feel they OWE you something. My ex MIL was that way. completely ruined and had a terrible effect on my first marriage. Anytime my ex and i got ready to take a vacation her mom would have to go to hospital. Nothing ever wrong. I picked that one up within the first yeaar of our marriage, but not the ex. Her mom had already pre-programmed her.

Your kids don''t owe you anything. If you really feel like they do, then send them a bill.

[jamesetling4]

I wish my 4 grown children would appreciate me more as a parent. I was young and raised them on my own...and didn''''t stab them, cook them in a microwave or tie them in a car headed for a lake. They never even call to see if I am still breathing. Guess I should thank God they don''''t come and kill me. ------------------------------
Posted by Bizzybirdy

You should acknowledge that nobody forced you to have 4 kids. It was a mess that you got yourself into. Raising kids is hard work. Our planet is overpopulated. Wouldn''t hurt the world if everyone just stopped having kids for about 10 years.

[jankebenz]

This must be some of those American "traditional family values" I`m always reading about.

Posted by Nancy_Naive at 01:48 PM : Oct 07, 2008

I don''t know what you read, but this was no traditional family. This scenario is least likely to happen in families that practise tradition, as in a dad who provides and protects,and a mom who cares for and nurtures. The broken family syndrome has become all too common and is a product of selfishness with the repurcussions thereof affecting all of society

[crescentgirl]

I don''t know why this tragedy occured. All i can see is despair in this story. Unfortunately, with the economy going south...i think we are probably going to see more of these types of incidents. Very sad. No matter what the circumstance or how bad it seems, there is always a line of hope out there...u just have to reach for it. It is sad that this woman was not able to do that.

[nobdehom]

mydiatribe: "Too many young single parents become overwhelmed and innocents are killed."

I don''''t believe this type of crime is solely a problem among "single" parents.

I''m a single parent it has been extremely hard,she wouldn''t know her Dad if he walked by,she''s better off we have been through hard times we make it and I could never imagine hurting her like that it is so purely evil!

[docpeter1953]

A Scottish psychiatrist, and director of Priory Hospital in Glasgow. Scotland, Dr. Alex Yellowlees, says that there are definite differences between men and women who kill or harm their children. He says that women tend to be mentally ill, frequently suffering from post-partum depression. Men, on the other hand, feel rage, jealousy, hatred, and revenge when they kill their families.

Posted by Nancy_Naive at 01:55 PM : Oct 07, 2008
_________________________

Post partum depression after 9 years?

Give me a break. The woman was just crazy.

[wilmojo1]

I don''t know why this woman did what she did. Maybe she''d gotten tired of fighting the gov''t just to feed and clothe her family. Maybe she was mentally ill. It can be a lot of other reasons also. It''s a tragedy that I wouldn''t wish on anyone though. But there''s one thing that I do know and that is those two little children didn''t have to die. I do not know enough about this story to be able to give any advice about what could have been done to prevent it from happening. But I''m sure that if anyone had cared for the family enough to get involved that something could have been done to prevent what happened. Now, not only is the husband dead but three other members of the family are also. What a tragedy!!!

[vinnie1939]

What a trajic thing to have happened. I don''t know home conditions, or anything about the father. But is it possible the mother was so deeply depressed in her own private world,and felt her children lived in that same world?

Or maybe it was just an act of revenge i.e. ''I''ll show you''. You will never have them!

Either way is sick.

No way do I condon this type action, but you have to admitt, this was a sick women. One other thing ... we do not walk in other''s shoes, so can''t really know what she was thinking when she committed this atrocious act. Or how she condoned it in her mind.

Ahhhh, well ....

[dagrandma]

mydiatribe: "Too many young single parents become overwhelmed and innocents are killed."

I don''t believe this type of crime is solely a problem among "single" parents.

[agt-r]

This has become a scary world. It''s incredible that we are incapable of controlling our emotions and instincts. One thing is to have terrible thoughts and another to commit them. I cannot believe it''s a mental health issue; there has to be another source of such depravation and, at the same time, sense of despair going on across the world.

[scotch41-2009]

Who knows what goes on inside a troubled mind...Perhaps she didn''t want her two kids to live in a decadent society without her guidance and protection...Unfortunately, this Mom was unable to face the same society herself....so, she decided to take them with her.....

[bizzybirdy]

I wish my 4 grown children would appreciate me more as a parent. I was young and raised them on my own...and didn''t stab them, cook them in a microwave or tie them in a car headed for a lake. They never even call to see if I am still breathing. Guess I should thank God they don''t come and kill me. Shame what parents do to their children AND what children do to their parents nowadays. Am glad I grew up in the "old days". World was a better place then in many ways.