Mom, Boyfriend Charged With Drowning Kids CLINTON, Ill. - A woman and her boyfriend were charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the deaths of her three children, who drowned when their car plunged into a lake in September in what initially looked like a tragic accident. Sheriff Roger Massey would not say how the car went down a boat ramp into Clinton Lake, killing the 6-year-old, 3-year-old and toddler inside. Massey said authorities know what the motive was, but he would not provide details other than to say it did not involve life-insurance money. Maurice Lagrone Jr., 28, and Amanda Hamm, 27, were each charged with three counts of first-degree murder for each death, Massey said. They were arrested separately Tuesday and were being held on $5 million bail. Deputies arrived at the lake in central Illinois on Sept. 2 within five minutes of receiving a 911 call from Hamm saying her children were in the water. The two suspects were on the lakeshore when rescuers arrived and Hamm was crying hysterically, according to one eyewitness. Neither the couple nor investigators have ever offered a public explanation for why the couple was at the lake. Authorities have said the suspects were not launching or removing a boat, and it was not clear if they were in the car when it went in the water. The couple never spoke to reporters or returned messages for comment. The sheriff said the car went in front first and the rear end was in 4 1/2 feet of water when rescuers arrived. Immediately after the deaths, Massey said they were being investigated as an accident. Within a day, he started calling them "the incident." Lagrone initially was charged with driving under the influence. That charge was dropped last month, and Massey said Wednesday that investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol were a factor. Asked how authorities decided the deaths were not an accident, Massey said investigators several times sent the car back into the water to see how it would sink. "Our purpose is to disprove an accident," Massey said. The siblings were Christopher Hamm, 6, Austin Brown, 3, and Kyleigh Hamm, 23 months. Lagrone was not the father of any of the children. The case drew parallels to the 1994 case of Susan Smith, who was convicted of drowning her children in a South Carolina lake. Smith at first alleged that a man carjacked her and took her two young sons. She later admitted rolling her car into a lake with the children strapped into car seats. Massey said he did not believe either Hamm or Lagrone had an attorney yet. They are scheduled to make their first court appearance Thursday morning. Clinton, a town of 7,500, is about 140 miles southwest of Chicago.
Neither can I. I never understood cases like this, and as a new father, I understand them even less now. RIP
Un-freakin'-believable...If you don't want the children, give them up or something... Life is such a gift and having a child is a miracle and I don't think I'll ever understand what brings people to this state of mind...
and just to quash the next post that says, you'll never understand it because the killer was insane.... this was 2 people...including the mother...who apparently carried this one out.
I just can't believe that someone would willingly, crazy or not, do that to their kids. I'd willingly give my life for mine. This sort of thing really depresses me.
if they're so stressed with their kids, they should kill themselves. then again, the kids are probably better off now since they dont' have live with these f*ckers.
Some times my wife drives me crazy... but never the kids. I don't understand how anyone could do something like this. I won't even spank my kids.
Because it's murder by the government. Wah, wah wah, blah, wah, cry me a ****ing river. These people deserve to be publicly hung and quartered. BTW: mur·der ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mûrdr) n. The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.
Because it won't bring those innocent, precious children back. And more importantly, it's too easy of a way out for those that killed the kids. I don't want to turn this into a D&D thread, though. Just my opinion- I respect yours, whatever it may be.
These two should be cut into tiny pieces and thrown in a vat of acid. Don't have children if you're going kill them. Dumb @#$%!!!
..... ...... .... Those SOBs. How the hell could they do that...poor kids. RIP little guys. Man...GD Sickos....
Yeah I wouldn't exactly call burning in hell the easy way out... but that is just my own perspective.
You know, if they were tired of the responsability of being a parent, and I use that word lightly, they could give them up for adoption. That woud give those kids a chance. And what they need to do to those two aholes is strap them in a car and push it slowly into a lake, just like those poor kids.
