Ten years past, still thinking of Naperville
There was a table visit from NCC today, and I made a point of going over and talking with the two guys that were there. I've been writing myself notes to check on when applications are due; really, what I have to worry about right now are financial aid apps, and those are contingent on my taxes being done, so that's where my focus will be in the next couple weeks. As I was filling out a form so the main guy could send me a course catalog, I realized that I could be back there as a student at the same time as I'd be celebrating my 10-year reunion with my class. Funny how that works.
After I got home, dad and I started talking, and he asked me what today was the 10-year anniversary of. Hmm, March 4, 1999...senior year...my memory was not jogged. Dad did it for me, and I was surprised that I'd forgotten the date. I'm guessing it's one of those memories I tried to repress:
10 years since Lemak murders
March 4, 2009
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
Ten years ago today, on March 4, 1999, Naperville surgical nurse Marilyn Lemak, in the midst of a divorce, drugged her three young children with prescription medicine, then suffocated them.
Lemak, now 51, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison with no parole.
Her lawyers argued she was insane at the time of the killings, and sought to have her conviction thrown out. They argued that Illinois' law on insanity defenses is unconstitutional.
They didn't deny that, in the midst of a bitter divorce battle with her estranged husband, Dr. David Lemak, she killed 7-year-old Nicholas, 6-year-old Emily and 3-year-old Thomas in the family's Naperville home on March 4, 1999. Prosecutors said she murdered the children to hurt her husband.
At her sentencing in 2002, DuPage County Circuit Judge George Bakalis told Lemak he hoped the children's faces and voices would haunt her every day for the rest of her life. "It is appropriate that, every day, as you look at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the bars, you will see the faces of these young children and hear these young voices asking you: 'Why, Mom? We loved you, Mom. Why did you do this to us?' "
"You will endure this until the end of your natural life," Bakalis told Lemak, "at which time a judge more powerful than any on this Earth will determine your final judgment."
I actually have a tag for this. My ties to this occurrence are mentioned in the other entry, but let's just say that dealing with the media circus when three young children are murdered isn't any fun. There's also an article in that previous entry that mentions the then-current owners of the house; they've since donated the building to the college, as the wife actually graduated with me. It's hard to believe this much time has passed, that they've all been gone longer than they were alive. I do think she had some form of mental illness, but still--killing your children to spite your husband? Trust me, there are other ways to spite him. Always leave the children out of it. Sadly, too many people choose the bad route.
After I got home, dad and I started talking, and he asked me what today was the 10-year anniversary of. Hmm, March 4, 1999...senior year...my memory was not jogged. Dad did it for me, and I was surprised that I'd forgotten the date. I'm guessing it's one of those memories I tried to repress:
10 years since Lemak murders
March 4, 2009
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
Ten years ago today, on March 4, 1999, Naperville surgical nurse Marilyn Lemak, in the midst of a divorce, drugged her three young children with prescription medicine, then suffocated them.
Lemak, now 51, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison with no parole.
Her lawyers argued she was insane at the time of the killings, and sought to have her conviction thrown out. They argued that Illinois' law on insanity defenses is unconstitutional.
They didn't deny that, in the midst of a bitter divorce battle with her estranged husband, Dr. David Lemak, she killed 7-year-old Nicholas, 6-year-old Emily and 3-year-old Thomas in the family's Naperville home on March 4, 1999. Prosecutors said she murdered the children to hurt her husband.
At her sentencing in 2002, DuPage County Circuit Judge George Bakalis told Lemak he hoped the children's faces and voices would haunt her every day for the rest of her life. "It is appropriate that, every day, as you look at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the bars, you will see the faces of these young children and hear these young voices asking you: 'Why, Mom? We loved you, Mom. Why did you do this to us?' "
"You will endure this until the end of your natural life," Bakalis told Lemak, "at which time a judge more powerful than any on this Earth will determine your final judgment."
I actually have a tag for this. My ties to this occurrence are mentioned in the other entry, but let's just say that dealing with the media circus when three young children are murdered isn't any fun. There's also an article in that previous entry that mentions the then-current owners of the house; they've since donated the building to the college, as the wife actually graduated with me. It's hard to believe this much time has passed, that they've all been gone longer than they were alive. I do think she had some form of mental illness, but still--killing your children to spite your husband? Trust me, there are other ways to spite him. Always leave the children out of it. Sadly, too many people choose the bad route.