Mother Stabs, Kills 2 Kids In Gas Station Rest Room

[Pauli]

http://www.wjbf.com/media/JBF/2007/11/30/0039.Image.ContentBlock-0019,NULL.390,325,2,NULL,NULL.MGSpooler.img (http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2007-11-30-0038.html)EXCLUSIVE: A Mother's Desperation (http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2007-11-30-0038.html)
There is new information on the Augusta woman charged with murdering her two toddlers. Michelle Hawes is on suicide watch at the Richmond County Jail. Investigators say she stabbed her two small children to death in a south Augusta gas station bathroom Thursday. WJBF-TV News Channel 6's Renita Crawford has more on the desperate days leading up to this tragedy.
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[Pauli]

EXCLUSIVE: A Mother's Desperation
We have new information on the desperate stiuation leading up to the deaths of two small children, allegedly at the hands of their mother

Friday, Nov 30, 2007 - 06:35 PM Updated: 08:46 AM

By Renita Crawford
E-mail (rcrawford@wjbf.com) | Biography (http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/authors.Bio.-content-midatlantic-jbf-authors-renita_crawford.html)

Augusta, Ga. -- Who is Michelle Jeanette Hawes?

Jailers say she is on suicide watch at the Richmond County Jail. Investigators say she took her two children into the bathroom of a south Augusta gas station Thursday. Workers there say they heard the children crying, and called the police. Sheriff's deputies used a screwdriver to get in the door, where they found the two children stabbed several times, and Hawes covered in blood. They found a steak knife nearby.

A good friend of Hawes and her family says the young mother was worried about how she would pay her bills after losing her job at the downtown post office. She had just a bought a new car before being fired.

Family friend Gary Willingham tells WJBF-TV News Channel 6 he has a close relationship with the family. He says he was a surrogate father and counselor to Michelle, and tried to help her get her life back on track after she was fired twice from her job at the Post Office.

He played a message that Michelle left on his phone on November 15th in which Hawes expressed worry about how she would cope with all the pressires she faced.

Hawes saw tragedy early in her life. In 1995, at the tender age of 10, her 15-year-old sister, Nicole was killed in a drive-by shooting at the Underwood Housing Project. She was an innocent by-stander.

Willingham says Hawes was proud to make it out of the housing area, and worked hard to take care of her children: "She had been calling me, sometimes 10 times a day...I was telling her, 'You've got to pull yourself together, get another job...'"

Willingham says Hawes loved her children, but clearly she felt like life was closing in on her. And he says Hawes would likely have killed herself if deputies had not arrived when they did.


http://www.wjbf.com/midatlantic/jbf/news_index.apx.-content-articles-JBF-2007-11-30-0038.html

[packy]

Another one, how sad. So sorry for those kids. Bless their little souls.

I wonder what circumstances were the basis for losing her job, general cutbacks or something related to her personally.

[rockford2]

Another one, how sad. So sorry for those kids. Bless their little souls.

I wonder what circumstances were the basis for losing her job, general cutbacks or something related to her personally.


I was just thinking that too.

Good God.....to feel that desperate to murder your own flesh and blood.

[R Daily Bread]

Another one, how sad. So sorry for those kids. Bless their little souls.

I wonder what circumstances were the basis for losing her job, general cutbacks or something related to her personally.I would also like to know the circumstances for her being fired. Since they stated "fired" that eliminates layoff and IMO means it was because of something she did. I have a hard time feeling sorry for her, I hope she spends the rest of her life in prison.

[Bamaisin]

There is a special place in hell for her. How horrible it must be to die at the hands of the one person in the world you trusted the most. Those poor babies.:( I'll never understand it.

[maryhaze]

There is a special place in hell for her. How horrible it must be to die at the hands of the one person in the world you trusted the most. Those poor babies.:( I'll never understand it.

i'd like to see the DP take her there quickly. i don't care how bad your life is, killing your kids is selfish.

[Sonya]

Another one, how sad. So sorry for those kids. Bless their little souls.

I wonder what circumstances were the basis for losing her job, general cutbacks or something related to her personally.

Hi, Packy! I bet it's something psychological. The article said she was fired TWICE.

For the babies :1222423:

[Febbie]

I would also like to know the circumstances for her being fired. Since they stated "fired" that eliminates layoff and IMO means it was because of something she did. I have a hard time feeling sorry for her, I hope she spends the rest of her life in prison.


These little children did not deserve this, she could have given them to someone to take care of, there is no reason for killing your children.
Imagine all of the people in this world that would be glad to have them, and give them good home and education. Just hope they don't let her go because of mental illness. :howdy:

[gibbrishclown]

I wonder how much of a role post partum may have played... she was 22 with a 1 and 3 year old? She'd have been pretty much pregnant and going through all the wacky hormone changes since she's 18, right?

[Kami]

So sad. :(

[spicedtea]

She took them to a public restroom and butchered them? I wonder if she didn't originally intend to kill them in there and claim some "bushy haired stranger" followed her in and did it.

She probably didn't anticipate the children screaming so much and drawing the attention of the worker there,who then called the police and stopped her during the act.

No crime scene at home to explain away,no need to hide the bodies,clean up the blood,etc...

[annalyzer]

i'd like to see the DP take her there quickly. i don't care how bad your life is, killing your kids is selfish.


I agree. A lot of us have had a tough life. I can't even comprehend someone even thinking about killing their kids much less actually stabbing them to death with a steak knife. That was a very painful and agonizing slow death for those poor kids too.

[Oceanblueeyes]

I would also like to know the circumstances for her being fired. Since they stated "fired" that eliminates layoff and IMO means it was because of something she did. I have a hard time feeling sorry for her, I hope she spends the rest of her life in prison.

And believe me with the Union being in the PO it takes an act of Congress to fire someone. It makes me think she was fired I would say for laying out and then the Union Rep. got her job back but she lost it again.

I have read articles stating this woman often complained that her children were holding her back. Seems she thought she was model material.

Also she was hunting down her boyfriend. I think that is one of the reasons she may have been laying out of work.

Whatever.........she premeditated the murders of her babies. She deserves nothing but the harshest punishment and the only sympathy should be given to the little lives that were senselessly taken.

imoo

[Tempus Teapot]

She sounds crazy to me. Can you be sane and kill your children?

It's heartbreaking to hear about these murders, especially since the act was so violent.

[Febbie]

Why in the world would she have 2 children, then kill them? What was in her mind at the time, was the boy friend more important?
Just because she lost her job, did not give her the right to murder two children. She was selfish, only thought about herself. She could have taken those children and let someone take care of them until she got her life together.
Now, they will say she was mental..... but jail for her.
For the children.:1222423:

[Oceanblueeyes]

She sounds crazy to me. Can you be sane and kill your children?

It's heartbreaking to hear about these murders, especially since the act was so violent.

Of course they can. Evil people are everywhere and especially those who think of themselves only. I think she found these children burdens and holding her back. She was constantly complaining about them.

Many many females are sent to prison that have murdered their babies who were found not to be insane. That is why the few other cases such as Yates and Delaney etc. are exceptions and make such headlines because insanity most of the time is not a viable defense.

I just read a stat not too long ago where it said most of the time children who are abused or murdered were victims of a biological parent. 57& of those crimes are done by the biological mother.

We cant bury our heads in the sand anymore imo. Women can be just as depraved and wicked as males. If we do that then these type of innocent children will never get equal justice they deserve.

imoo

[spicedtea]

Of course they can. Evil people are everywhere and especially those who think of themselves only. I think she found these children burdens and holding her back. She was constantly complaining about them.

Many many females are sent to prison that have murdered their babies who were found not to be insane. That is why the few other cases such as Yates and Delaney etc. are exceptions and make such headlines because insanity most of the time is not a viable defense.

I just read a stat not too long ago where it said most of the time children who are abused or murdered were victims of a biological parent. 57& of those crimes are done by the biological mother.

We cant bury our heads in the sand anymore imo. Women can be just as depraved and wicked as males. If we do that then these type of innocent children will never get equal justice they deserve.

imoo

I couldn't agree with you more!!! We do need to give up this stereotype that there must be something horribly wrong with a woman that kills. She must be insane,hormonal,battered and emotionally damaged so it's some mans fault,etc... It's maddening and frankly,as a woman myself,I find it insulting. We are NOT slaves to hormones nor men,when a woman kills,she means to do that just as much as a male killer does.

Yes,there are a few cases where a woman is insane,just as there are with men,but they are few and far between.

I know it's hard for us to think a mother could want to kill her children,but they do repeatedly and until we accept completely that not all mothers are loving,protective nurturers,the killing will continue. I say no more excuses for the ultimate betrayal of a child,to die by the hand of their selfish,souless mother.

God Bless those poor babies and I hope their mother gets what she deserves.