VIDEO: As Kehoe trial begins, experts explain — Why do women kill?

Posted on Oct 28, 2009 by Trish Mehaffey.

Michelle Kehoe listens to her attorney, Andrea Dryer, request a change of venue at a hearing at the Buchanan County Courthouse in Independence Aug. 26. Kehoe is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment. She ís accused of killing her 2-year-old son, Seth, and attempting to kill her 7-year-old son, Sean, in October 2008. (AP)

Michelle Kehoe of Coralville goes on trial today for the murder of one of her sons and the attempted murder of the other.

Publicity surrounding the case resulted in the trial being moved out of Buchanan County to Grundy Center, west of Waterloo.

Kehoe, 35, is accused of driving the family’s minivan to a remote area in Buchanan County on Oct. 27, 2008.

Sean Kehoe, 7, told police his mother removed him from the van, duct-taped his eyes, nose and mouth and cut his throat. When police arrived, they found Sean’s brother, Seth, 2, dead outside the van and Sean injured inside the van. Michelle Kehoe, too, had injured herself, police said.

Jury selection begins 9 a.m. and opening statements could be Thursday morning. The trial is expected to go two weeks. Reporter Trish Mehaffey will cover the trial live when testimony begins.

Shocking as the crimes were, research shows it’s not that uncommon for a woman to kill her child:

• About 200 women kill their children in the United States each year, according to the American Anthropological Association.
• A parent is the killer in most murders involving children under age 5. Of those children under age 5 killed between 1976 and 2005, 29 percent were killed by their mothers, according to the Bureau of Justice.

Dr. Michael O’Hara, University of Iowa psychology professor and clinical psychologist, said he could not speculate on the Kehoe case. But one simple explanation for why a mother kills her children is that she’s psychotic, he said.

She might believe someone is telling her to kill or she’s having other delusions or hallucinations and believes the child is evil and needs to die. Also, a woman could have some kind of bonding disorder, though that doesn’t usually lead to murder. Another possibility is an accidental death, he said.

VIDEO: Dr. O’Hara on why a mother might kill a child

O’Hara said Munchausen syndrome, or Munchausen by proxy, may be possible explanations.

Munchausen syndrome is a mental disorder which a person with a deep need for attention pretends to be sick or gets sick or injured on purpose. Munchausen by proxy is when a parent or caregiver deliberately makes a child sick or exaggerates the child’s condition to gain attention or sympathy.

The Kehoe children are the general age for Munchausen victims — children young enough for their environment to be controlled, O’Hara said.

O’Hara noted that in December 2007, months before Seth’s murder, Kehoe drove her vehicle into the Iowa River. “There’s never been anyone who drove off into the river in that area before, and the police say it was an accident,” he said.

According to police, Kehoe’s vehicle hit a curb and drove off the road into the river.The dramatic rescue of the family garnered a lot of media attention. Gov. Chet Culver honored the four men who jumped in the icy river to save the family.

O’Hara said the incident could have been an attempt by Kehoe to draw attention to herself. She may not have intended to kill her children or decided not to follow through that time, he said.

Kehoe’s attorneys are pursuing the defense of insanity.