The year is 1965 in a place where most would consider paradise. A middle-aged woman drowns her five children one by one in the bathtub. This woman is Maggie Young who lived in Aiea, Hawaii at the time. While most people are quick to judge this woman, we need to take a step back and see what would cause this lady to commit such a heinous crime. No mother in her right mind would do such a thing without suffering from some kind of mental breakdown or illness. .
It is obvious that Mrs. Young was not in a stable state of mind. Our class textbook talks about how earlier in the year she had been hospitalized due to a mental breakdown (2012). The day was November 22, 1965 when Mrs. Young took her four daughters, Jessica, 8 months; Jeanette, 2; Judith, 3; and Janice, 5 and drowned them in the family home bathtub then laid them all in a twin bed. She then proceeded to go and get her son James Frank Jr., 8 out of school and take him home where she did the same to him. Mrs. Young's husband, James Young had been away on a flying mission that day. When he returned home he discovered all five kids deceased on twin beds. .
According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin (2001) Mrs. Young felt despondent over the perceived inability to care for her kids. She was only charged with the killing of her son even though she had admitted to killing all five. The Star Bulletin also says that psychiatrics appointed to her case determined that she had been acting under a diseased and deranged condition. She was found unfit to stand trial and was sent to a State Hospital in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Not long after she was committed to the hospital Mrs. Young was not able to grasp the severity of what she had done and hung herself in a chicken coupe that was located on hospital grounds.
Mrs. Young was a sick woman. She felt despondent and even had to be hospitalized for having a mental breakdown. A similar case to this was that of Andrea Yates.