Oregon Mom Arrested In Son's Drowning

Mother Faces Charges After 4-Year-Old Son Dies In River; 7-Year-Old Sister Survives

(AP)  An Oregon mother was arrested Saturday in the drowning of her 4-year-old son after the boy and his 7-year-old sister ended up in the chilly Williamette River.

Residents heard screams on the Sellwood Bridge near Portland and called authorities. Some jumped into boats to help search in the early morning darkness. After about an hour, a couple found the children downstream.

The boy, Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith, could not be revived; the girl was in a hospital and expected to survive.

"She's doing well," said Detective Sgt. Rich Austria of the Portland Police Bureau. "She has the will to live."

Austria said it was not immediately clear whether the children were pushed or fell into the river. They have not yet questioned the girl.

Police said the mother, Amanda Jo Stott-Smith, was taken into the custody at a downtown parking garage several hours after her children were found. Stott-Smith, 31, threatened to jump off the garage's ninth floor in before she was arrested, Austria said.

Stott-Smith faces aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder charges, Austria said.

A police spokesman said he did not know if Stott-Smith had an attorney.

Police were asking the public to call investigators if they saw Stott-Smith's car, a blue Audi sedan, on the bridge when residents of the area heard the children's screams.

"Had they not been awake at one in the morning," Austria said, "we would investigating a case here with no children."

When police arrived, officers also heard screams on the river but couldn't find the children because it was dark, said Officer Greg Pashley, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman.

"As you look down into the darkness it's hard to see anything," Pashley said. "I can't imagine what it must be like to be a child in this cold river."

[stupidrules3]

What' s the matter hamiltongrad, you couldn't find a man to blame? I think the cops should have let her jump off the ninth floor.

[hamiltongrad]

joeydog: If we follow you advice, then more moms will likely snap. You can't stop violence by more violence.

[joeydog999]

I have an idea? If that mother DID push her children in the river,, i think someone should push her in the river, or just give her the gas chamber with NO court hearings. Wonder why the U.S has the highest crime rate?One reason is because our stinken, lazy judges wont lower the boom on things like this, You wouldnt get away with this in another country, they would publically hang you,, if we started being more strict when parents want to kill their kids, that might slow this sickness down, I think if a woman puts her baby in a m/ wave oven or just kills them , they AUTOMATICALLY go to the gas chamber, no trial, no jury.. Our judicial system is too laxed on idiots like these people...

[hamiltongrad]

These events seem to happen, or at least reported on national news, way too frequently.

What makes these moms snap ?

[KevinMBdeOwosso]

I am a 60 year old gay man who did not have the option to adopt kids when I was young enough to do it and there are "parents" who literally throw their kids away..... Pat Robertson & Co. - are you PROUD of your stupidity now?

[erb0087]

CBS you need to do a better job on your writing. This is the worst article I have ever seen. A fourth grader could have done it better.
Posted by vielmann at 4:19 PM : May 24, 2009
===========================

CBS was just reproducing an AP report.

[searingtruth]

Perhaps waterboarding, or drowning as it is more commonly known, is not as desirable of the designation "justice" as we thought.
ST


"We cannot fight an injustice that we find within ourselves, and that is why we so often find ourselves at the mercy of it."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[erasmus111]

People cry for help, until some one listens. Society needs to turn up our collective hearing aids.

What this person did was wrong. Punishing her because of this, sadly will not aid our understanding of what made her snap. We need to learn more. Sadly these stories seem to be every week. Women snap much more frequently than men.
Posted by hamiltongrad at 9:01 PM : May 24, 2009

I agree that these kinds of things are happening way too frequently, but it isn't just happening with women. And yes, we do need to find out why. But you need to stop automatically assuming that it's the man's fault. Maybe is some cases it is, but each case has to be examined individually. You can't just assume that every case is because of a man. You are obviously a man hater.

[hamiltongrad]

http://www.slate.com/id/2063086/

get the low down on mothers killing their children and the large % going to hospitals, vs. fathers.

What does this mean ???

[hamiltongrad]

People cry for help, until some one listens. Society needs to turn up our collective hearing aids.

What this person did was wrong. Punishing her because of this, sadly will not aid our understanding of what made her snap. We need to learn more. Sadly these stories seem to be every week. Women snap much more frequently than men.

[voxpopulus]

". I'm converting to heterosexuality" Well, as you're giving people an excuse to be as homophobic as you are heterophobic I'm not sure what ti advise.

[voxpopulus]

"Here is a woman, who is suicidal, " Suicidal is her affair. It's being homicidal that is the key issue.

[hamiltongrad]

Evil must be confronted. There must be harsh punishment.

But, we need to know too why people snap. Is that a contradiction, erasmus ?

[debinok1]

you are right that it's definitely better to err on the side of caution, but don't you think it odd she had her children on a bridge at 1 in the morning, didn't request help form anyone then threatened to jump to her death from 9 stories when they tried to arrest her?
Posted by sbbm-2009

She threatened to jump nine stories from a "parking garage in downton portland" not from the bridge. At this point nobody has come forward as an eyewitness saying she was on that bridge at 1 am, with or without her children. It is just as possible that she left the children home, went to the parking garage with the intention of committing suicide, the children woke up, found her gone and went to find her, in the dark wandered onto the bank of the river, where one or both slipped into the river and were caught by the current. Until that little girl wakes up and tells the police what happened, everything is speculation.

[vielmann]

CBS you need to do a better job on your writing. This is the worst article I have ever seen. A fourth grader could have done it better.

[voxpopulus]

Ah, it took just six posts before someone blamed a man for a woman committing a murder. What strange worlds some of you live in.

[erasmus111]

This may have been a cry for help. what abuse did the mom suffer either as a child or at the hands of men in society ?
Posted by hamiltongrad at 1:14 PM : May 24, 2009

Stop it.

This woman could have been born with a screw loose. And maybe her mommy had a screw loose too.

[hamiltongrad]

TO set the record straight, any person, man or female who could do this, for any "reason" is evil, and deserves harsh punishment.

[Solarrays247]

Swingset,right on I too fought for my son and raised him with the help of my "new wife of 33 years", he's now 37 yrs.
Posted by mike18881 at 2:03 PM : May 24, 2009


mike18881, during his divorce, my son fought for custody of his son, also. He won his case,and at the time, my grandson was only two years old. He is now fourteen years old, and doing great. He gained a wonderful stepmother ten years ago, and now has two younger brothers! Luckily, his birth mother realized that she was not yet ready for motherhood. She does stay in touch, and that is as it should be.

[Solarrays247]

By the way I am a single DADDY raising his son. I am happy to report I didn't let his mother kill him so she could be with her boyfriend 11 years her junior. ... FYI, my son is NOW 18 years old. Yeah I did a DAMN good job.
Posted by swingset4u at 11:20 AM : May 24, 2009

swingset4u, my brother raised his three children alone also, and he also did a damn good job. I am of the firm belief that parenting is not really gender specific. Neither is love.

My previous post, by the way, was meant in a cynical tone for those specific posters who jumped to ridiculous assumptions based on very few facts. I was hoping to point out how simplistic their posts actually were.

You can be very proud of yourself. I am convinced that it doesn't always take two parents to raise a great kid.....it simply takes a lot of love, caring, and our time!

Peace!