Oregon Mom Accused in River Drowning of Son

[tlongII]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521439,00.html?test=latestnews

http://www.foxnews.com/images/533874/7_21_bridge1_450.jpg
May 23: Portland Police search on a dock near the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Ore.

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon mother was arrested Saturday in the drowning of her 4-year-old son after the boy and his 7-year-old sister ended up in the chilly Williamette River.

Residents heard screams on the Sellwood Bridge near Portland and called authorities. Some jumped into boats to help search in the early morning darkness. After about an hour, a couple found the children downstream.

The boy, Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith, could not be revived; the girl was in a hospital and expected to survive.

"She's doing well," said Detective Sgt. Rich Austria of the Portland Police Bureau. "She has the will to live."

Austria said it was not immediately clear whether the children were pushed or fell into the river. They have not yet questioned the girl.

Police said the mother, Amanda Jo Stott-Smith, was taken into the custody at a downtown parking garage several hours after her children were found. Stott-Smith, 31, threatened to jump off the garage's ninth floor in before she was arrested, Austria said.

Stott-Smith faces aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder charges, Austria said.

A police spokesman said he did not know if Stott-Smith had an attorney.

Police were asking the public to call investigators if they saw Stott-Smith's car, a blue Audi sedan, on the bridge when residents of the area heard the children's screams.

"Had they not been awake at one in the morning," Austria said, "we would investigating a case here with no children."

When police arrived, officers also heard screams on the river but couldn't find the children because it was dark, said Officer Greg Pashley, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman.

"As you look down into the darkness it's hard to see anything," Pashley said. "I can't imagine what it must be like to be a child in this cold river."

[Summers]

Bad parents suck. :(

[tlongII]

What kind of a sick fuck would throw her kids off a bridge into a cold river in the dark? Unbeavable.

[Spur-Addict]

Fucking shame.

[Bender]

death penalty... and not 20 years from now.

[BlackSwordsMan]

what a bunch of nancy graces in here

[Wild Cobra]

I'd be interested in why authorities, or the media, believe as they do. I wonder what evidence they have. The fact the woman was distraught and suicidal, could be because she witnessed her kids disappearing, and freaked out.

I know the Sellwood area real well. If she pushed her kids from the bridge, why was the noise following the current in the statement that said a woman voice too? How did she get down to the trail so fast?

A massive search was launched about 1:20 a.m. when 9-1-1 calls started coming in from people who heard the screams of children and an adult woman coming from the river.
I need more evidence before I'll call this mother, a killer. There is Oaks Amusement Park, Riverfront Park, trails, etc. All walking distance from residential areas. The kids could have been playing next to the water and slipped in. Maybe the husband pushed them all in. Who knows, maybe she killed the father:
The children's father reported them missing Friday night to Tualatin police. According to Portland police, Stott-Smith and the children's father share custody. Police did not identify the father.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending her, just pointing out there are other possibilities.

Woman, 31, arrested after one child drowns, one rescued from Willamette (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/two_children_found_in_willamet.html)


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x262/Wild_Cobra/satellite%20view/sellwoodbridge.jpg

[tlongII]

I'd be interested in why authorities, or the media, believe as they do. I wonder what evidence they have. The fact the woman was distraught and suicidal, could be because she witnessed her kids disappearing, and freaked out.

I know the Sellwood area real well. If she pushed her kids from the bridge, why was the noise following the current in the statement that said a woman voice too? How did she get down to the trail so fast?

I need more evidence before I'll call this mother, a killer. There is Oaks Amusement Park, Riverfront Park, trails, etc. All walking distance from residential areas. The kids could have been playing next to the water and slipped in. Maybe the husband pushed them all in. Who knows, maybe she killed the father:
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending her, just pointing out there are other possibilities.

Woman, 31, arrested after one child drowns, one rescued from Willamette (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/two_children_found_in_willamet.html)


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x262/Wild_Cobra/satellite%20view/sellwoodbridge.jpg

I have a feeling the little girl said something.

[Wild Cobra]

I have a feeling the little girl said something.

That's possible, but we really don't know. I prefer not to take a stand on such situations until more is known. Living nearby, I had hear about this story soon after it happened. In the news already when I took my lunch break on my graveyard shift. They were looking for the mother at the time.

Still, I wonder where the father is?

[tlongII]

That's possible, but we really don't know. I prefer not to take a stand on such situations until more is known. Living nearby, I had hear about this story soon after it happened. In the news already when I took my lunch break on my graveyard shift. They were looking for the mother at the time.

Still, I wonder where the father is?

You're right, but it's still rather odd that the mother was found on the 9th floor of a parking structure threatening suicide.

[Wild Cobra]

You're right, but it's still rather odd that the mother was found on the 9th floor of a parking structure threatening suicide.
It still doesn't mean she committed the deed. What happened could have been the breaking point for her. If you understand such behavior, fine. I never considered such actions, I can only guess. From what I see, the thoughts of suicide in general are alien to me, but it happens for other reasons than being guilty of something.

[pkbpkb81]

i hope she dident do it. i will never understand how a parent can hurt a child.

now if she did do it i hope she burns in hell

[Taco]

La Llorona ?!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona

[tlongII]

The latest from this depressing story...

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/custody_fight_preceded_case_of.html


The father of the brother and sister pulled out of the Willamette River early Saturday morning had recently been awarded custody by a Washington County Circuit Court judge, according to court records obtained this morning by The Oregonian.

Amanda Jo Stott-Smith, 31, faces accusations of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder and is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Her 4-year-old son, Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith, drowned in the Willamette. His sister, a 7-year-old girl, is recovering at an area hospital, and has not been identified by authorities.

She was rescued by a boater and his companion who followed the sounds of moaning coming from the river only to find the two children.

Stott-Smith's children have bounced from one home to another since the couple separated last fall.

In mid-February, Jason F. Smith took the children from their home in Tualatin to live in Eugene.

On March 3, the girl started classes at Meadowlark Elementary School.

But on April 6, her mother came to the school with a court order and took the child to Clackamas County. She was enrolled two days later at Concord Elementary School in the North Clackamas School District.

An official at Meadowlark Elementary in Eugene wrote in a letter to the court that a Concord Elementary administrator told her that Stott-Smith was homeless and living with her parents.

"Amanda also stated ... that (her daughter's) enrollment was to be kept confidential and her father was not to know where she was."

In the latest filing, dated April 21, a Washington County Judge Kirsten E. Thompson awarded custody to Jason Smith, 33, in a sternly-worded order saying that Stott-Smith was not to visit the children without their father's permission.

The judge awarded Stott-Smith visitation every other weekend from 7 p.m. Friday until 5 p.m. Sundays. Stott-Smith also was granted telephone access to her children every night.

The court filings in the couple's divorce and custody case offers a glimpse into a chaotic family life for the children in which they appear to have lived in Eugene, Tualatin and Clackamas County.

Court filings show that Stott-Smith and Smith married in April 2001 and separated in September 2008. Soon after, Smith entered an in-patient rehab program but the documents don't say why. Stott-Smith and her children visited Smith on weekends.

According to court records, Jason Smith left a child in a vehicle in April 2001, just five days before his wedding to Amanda Stott-Smith in Hawaii. It's unclear who the child was, because Eldon and his sister weren't yet born. Smith pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $694 in fines, do community service and take a parenting class.

Smith also has run into other trouble with the law. In 1994, he was convicted of first- and second-degree theft from Eugene Coin and Jewelry. In 2000, he was convicted of first-degree drug possession. Last November, he was convicted of hit-and-run driving, and ordered to pay another man nearly $1,700 in restitution.

When the children lived with their mother in Tualatin, Stott-Smith's daily routine involved walking her daughter to and from Byrom Elementary School and taking her son to a preschool.

"I am a stay-at-home mother," she wrote in the court filing. "In the afternoons I fed Eldon lunch, and played with him until it was time to pick his sister up. Many afternoons the three of us would go to the library together. I cared for the children 24 hours a day."



Sure sounds to me like she did it.

[TDMVPDPOY]

i dont like to see double standards here

put the lady on deathrow, put her in a cell with a big picture of her kids to remind her what she had....leading up to date of execution...like the one they sentenced the vietnamese guy a few months ago who did the same thing.....

[Nancy Grace]

what a bunch of nancy graces in here

:tu They know how it is.

[Wild Cobra]

The latest news I can find on the case is that she appeared before the judge (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/live_blog_arraignment_for_aman.html) yesterday (Tuesday 2:43 PM,) and asked if she understood the charges. No plead yet. Will she plead guilty or not guilty?

[tlongII]

The latest news I can find on the case is that she appeared before the judge (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/live_blog_arraignment_for_aman.html) yesterday (Tuesday 2:43 PM,) and asked if she understood the charges. No plead yet. Will she plead guilty or not guilty?

There is no doubt that she'll plead not guilty. Defense attorneys almost always recommend that. Often they can strike a deal with the DA to plead guilty to lesser charges later.

[manufan10]

This is a string of violence of father's against children and mother's against children recently. What the heck is going on?

[Wild Cobra]

This is a string of violence of father's against children and mother's against children recently. What the heck is going on?
I wouldn't place much stock in that coming out of the Multnomah County Court system. They get over zealous on abuse, and make it almost impossible to win a not guilty plead.

[ChumpDumper]

Well, I guess women can be family annihilators too.