Respondent Patrice Seibert’s 12–year–old son Jonathan had cerebral palsy, and when he died in his sleep she feared charges of neglect because of bedsores on his body. In her presence, two of her teenage sons and two of their friends devised a plan to conceal the facts surrounding Jonathan’s death by incinerating his body in the course of burning the family’s mobile home, in which they planned to leave Donald Rector, a mentally ill teenager living with the family. To avoid any appearance that Jonathan had been unattended, Seibert’s son Darian and a friend set the fire, and Donald died.
Missouri v. Seibert, one of the cases I’m recording today.
Humans can be terrifying.
