This happen in Newberg N.Y..I seen it in the paper today and on the news tonight. The oldest child who is 11 made it back to shore and was found in a daze...This hurt my heart, I hope those little angels rest in peace,the mother snapped,Jesus help her soul.
mastic55: This happen in Newberg N.Y..I seen it in the paper today and on the news tonight. The oldest child who is 11 made it back to shore and was found in a daze...This hurt my heart, I hope those little angels rest in peace,the mother snapped,Jesus help her soul.
Son: Mom cried NY river plunge 'terrible mistake'
By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press The Associated Press Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:07 PM EDT
NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — A suicidal mother who loaded her four children into a minivan and drove off a boat ramp into the frigid Hudson River changed her mind as the van sank and cried, "I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake," said her 10-year-old son, who survived by crawling out a window and swimming ashore.
Lashanda Armstrong had warned in a cryptic Facebook message just before the fatal plunge: "I'm so sorry everyone forgive me please for what I'm gonna do.... This Is It!!!!"
Her 10-year-old son, the only survivor as his mother and three siblings drowned, says she had told the children, "You're all going to die with me," but then tried, too late, to back out of the river, according to a woman who found the sopping wet boy.
Meave Ryan was driving past the boat ramp in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, on Tuesday evening when she spotted the boy, La'Shaun Armstrong, waving his arms.
Ryan said the boy told her that his mother had had a "big, big argument about my stepdad's cheating on her," then piled the four children in the minivan and sped into the river.
Ryan told The Associated Press on Thursday that La'Shaun said Armstrong had held him and the other kids — boys ages 5 and 2 and an 11-month-old girl — as the minivan began sinking.
"She was holding on to all of them and said, `If I'm going to die, you're all going to die with me,'" Ryan said. "She said that two or three times."
But as the vehicle sank, La'Shaun broke free of his mother's grasp and clambered out a window.
Ryan said: "While he was doing that, he heard his mother saying, `I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake.' And she tried to reverse the car out, but at that time it was too late. He said, `Mommy, I'm going to go get help,' and she said, `OK.' And that was the last he heard from his mother."
Ryan drove the boy to a nearby fire station. Rescuers immediately went to the river, but it was too late: They found the van about 25 yards from shore in 8 feet of water. Lashanda Armstrong and three children were dead.
Ryan's account conforms to reports from police, who say Armstrong was involved in a domestic incident at her apartment Tuesday evening and within minutes had plunged off a boat ramp into the river just a half-mile from her apartment in a hard-luck section of the city.
tstone61: They are in a better place sad as hell though .
You don't know that they are in a better place. Neighbors said she was a very good mother. She gave up the life of her children for a man that was cheating on her.
Snuggs09: You don't know that they are in a better place. Neighbors said she was a very good mother. She gave up the life of her children for a man that was cheating on her.
selfish under almost any circumstance, but for that reason?
pikengren: selfish under almost any circumstance, but for that reason?
That's what annoys the heck out of me. Andrea Yates and the woman from South Carolina killed their children. Yates because was nuts. I don't remember why the one in Carolina did it.
If she wanted to die, then she should have driven into the river by herself.
Snuggs09: That's what annoys the heck out of me. Andrea Yates and the woman from South Carolina killed their children. Yates because was nuts. I don't remember why the one in Carolina did it.
If she wanted to die, then she should have driven into the river by herself.
i have heard other stories of parents killing their kids before commiting suicide since the yates thing. i didn't follow the stories for details, because i just couldn't take it.
pikengren: i have heard other stories of parents killing their kids before commiting suicide since the yates thing. i didn't follow the stories for details, because i just couldn't take it.
A lot of it happens in New York (my neighbor). They do it through malnutrition. Some of these kids are found so emaciated down to skin and bones. And 9 out of 10 times it's the boyfriend or girlfriend that did it.
mastic55: This happen in Newberg N.Y..I seen it in the paper today and on the news tonight. The oldest child who is 11 made it back to shore and was found in a daze...This hurt my heart, I hope those little angels rest in peace,the mother snapped,Jesus help her soul.
mastic55: This happen in Newberg N.Y..I seen it in the paper today and on the news tonight. The oldest child who is 11 made it back to shore and was found in a daze...This hurt my heart, I hope those little angels rest in peace,the mother snapped,Jesus help her soul.
I saw this on the news too.... so sad, and the kids were so young too. Cannot imagine what she was going through...
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