Mom 'calm' in call to 911 - diaries, Bible sought to shed light on her thoughts, boys' deaths

The Dallas Morning News ^ | May 12, 2003 | By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News

[MeekOneGOP]

Mom 'calm' in call to 911

Diaries, Bible sought to shed light on her thoughts, boys' deaths

05/12/2003

By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News

TYLER – Sunday was to be First Assembly of God's special Mother's Day celebration, but the congregation instead gathered to mourn the inexplicable – a tragedy in which two children were bludgeoned to death with rocks, allegedly by their mother, a member of the church's choir.

Hundreds filled the pews, some calling out encouragement, many dabbing their eyes as pastor Gary Bell talked of the pain of losing two of his young nephews and a third nephew's effort to cling to life.

He talked of his sister-in-law, Deanna LaJune "Dee" Laney, who was jailed a few blocks away on charges of capital murder. She reported her children's deaths in a 911 call described Sunday as calm and peaceful.

Handout

Deanna LaJune Laney

"We don't excuse what has happened. This is a brutal and horrific incident," he said. "But we all believe as family that it wasn't our Dee that did this to her children."

Ms. Laney, 38, was arrested early Saturday at her rural Smith County home near Tyler after telling the 911 dispatcher that she'd smashed in her sons' heads with rocks.

'Almost little girlish'

Sheriff J.B. Smith said Ms. Laney used her cellphone to report that God ordered her to kill her sons. He said she talked for more than 20 minutes, her voice "almost little girlish" as she gave the badly rattled dispatcher detailed instructions to her home. Sheriff Smith said Ms. Laney also called her older sons by name as she told the dispatcher how to find their bodies "near the swing" in her front yard.

"She was very calm, very peaceful," he said.

Sheriff Smith and other officials have said the incident is eerily reminiscent of the 2001 Houston case in which Andrea Yates calmly called 911 to report that she'd just drowned her five children. Ms. Yates, who told authorities that she killed her children because she feared they would otherwise be damned to hell, is serving a life sentence for the deaths.

A deputy sent to the Smith County home found the bodies of 6-year-old Luke Allen Laney and 8-year-old Joshua Laney lying in the front yard with bloody rocks the size of dinner plates on their chests.

Ms. Laney's youngest son, 14-month-old Aaron, was discovered in his crib, still breathing despite a massive open skull fracture and a pillow over his head, authorities said. A deputy found Ms. Laney wandering dazed in her back yard, her pajamas spattered with drying blood.

Relatives said the youngest son was in stable condition Sunday at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

The boys' father, 44-year-old Keith Laney, slept through the attacks, awakening as the sheriff's deputy sent to investigate the 911 call searched the couple's neat brick home, authorities said.

Ms. Laney was being held Sunday in the Smith County Jail in lieu of bail totaling $3 million. She signed papers after her arrest seeking a court-appointed attorney. Sheriff Smith said two lawyers and her brother-in-law, the pastor, visited her during the weekend, and she remains under a suicide watch.

Mood swings reported

"She's had real quick mood swings. The jailer describes her as just peaks and valleys," Sheriff Smith said. "She's sometimes incoherent, sometimes lays in the fetal position, sometimes walks around her cell singing gospel music.

"Sometimes she prays. Sometimes she seems to realize what she's done and says, 'Oh no!' Then she just looks with a blank stare on her face," the sheriff said Sunday.

Investigators remained at the family home in New Chapel Hill, seven miles southeast of Tyler. Authorities said it might be Wednesday before they finish searching the premises.

What was she thinking?

"We're looking for anything she might have written, any diaries, birthday cards, their computer, any highlights in a Bible that might shed some light on what she was thinking," Smith County sheriff's Maj. Mike Lusk said.

Friends and neighbors have described Ms. Laney, a longtime church member, as an intensely devout woman who sang in a gospel group with three of her sisters. She often appeared in the choir during the church's weekly Sunday morning broadcasts on a Tyler television station.

She home-schooled her sons and was known in her modest, working-class neighborhood for closely supervising the oldest two, allowing them to play only with a younger cousin, who lived across the street.

Neighbors said Mr. Laney, who runs an air-compressor repair shop on nearby State Highway 64, is a hard worker who often took his older sons to play and help with chores at the family's small farm in nearby Arp, where he keeps a small herd of cattle.

Night before slayings

"At the present time, we don't have a clue what was in her head," Sheriff Smith said. "Their home was neat. The landscaping was all beautiful. Their friends that we've interviewed have said there was no indication, even the night before, of anything. They went out for dinner the night before with their kids."

Investigators said they have not been able to talk with Mr. Laney, who remained in Dallas on Sunday to be near his comatose son. They hoped to interview him Monday.

Mr. Bell told reporters outside his church that the Laney family "is one of the last you'd think this would ever happen to."

"They were a model family, hardworking, very spiritual. But in a moment of passion, and weakness, it seems, this tragedy unfolded," he said.

In his brief Sunday sermon, Mr. Bell said the church would stand with Ms. Laney, as well as with her grieving husband and their families. He told congregants that he'd already visited Ms. Laney in jail because he is her pastor as well as her brother-in-law.

Hurt and confusion

"All I can say is that I expressed our hurt and confusion over why and how this could happen, but also acknowledged our continuing love," he said.

He also repeatedly urged the congregation not to speculate about the case or discuss it with the media.

Authorities said a major focus of their investigation would be trying to unravel what could've prompted Ms. Laney to think God wanted her to kill her children. They said they have had no indication that Ms. Laney was on any medication or had a history of psychiatric problems.

Investigators also will review video recordings of the church's Sunday services, which air locally a week after taping.

In the service shown Sunday, Mr. Bell talked about the world's increasing terrorism and violence as signs of the imminence of the Antichrist, Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ.

The hourlong sermon pointedly referred to a string of high-profile crimes in the United States, including the kidnapping of Salt Lake City teenager Elizabeth Smart, the slaying of pregnant woman Laci Peterson in California and a case reported last month in The Washington Post of two parents accused of decapitating their three children.

"I'm sure there will be people who will resist the death penalty because it was a moment of insanity, so the death penalty will be cruel to people who kill their innocent children," Mr. Bell said of the case reported in The Post. "You explain that logic to me."

But on this Sunday, after the somber congregation flocked past a church sign that read, "a mother's heart is a child's schoolroom," Mr. Bell implored them to avoid "theologizing and judgmentalism."

Pastor Derwood Dubose of Hurst, district director for the North Texas Conference of Assemblies of God, spoke to the congregation by phone, telling them that Ms. Laney had been "overcome by some force we cannot fully identify," leaving family and friends with "a hurt that only time and God can heal."

Mr. Bell thanked congregants for all their calls, visits and offers of help, adding, "The main thing we need is prayer."

"It's a time of mourning," he told reporters after he and more than a dozen of the Laneys' other family members filed out of the church sanctuary. "It always happens to someone else, then when it comes this close to home, you begin to empathize with other people.

"The truth is, nobody knows exactly what happened at this point except Dee."

E-mail lhancock@dallasnews.com

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/051203dntexkidsslain.3de72.html

[Lijahsbubbe]

If she was schizophrenic or depressed she could have been very paranoid about her children playing anywhere. I'm glad to see there are some on this forum who believe that psychosis is real. I was one of those people who did not believe it really happened until a family member became mentally ill. It's easier with a violent crime like this if there is a villain to hate and punish. It's only natural for us to want justice and to hate the person who could murder so brutally, especially children. However, with mental illness it doesn't give a neat and tidy ending. Not if you understand the nature of it. The family is left to deal with the death of innocents, and to grieve for the member who is mentally ill.

Then you have the cases where the insanity defense is abused. People become cynical. It's all very sad.

[Lijahsbubbe]

I am so glad you're doing well! God bless you!

[MineralMan]

http://www.firstassemblyofgod-tyler.com/home.htm


Check here. I believe this is the church in question.

[MineralMan]

"Then you have the cases where the insanity defense is abused. People become cynical. It's all very sad."

Yes, there are many such cases. Sadly, they interfere with real cases where insanity causes the crime. Hopefully, if that's the case here, treatment will be instituted.

[Poohbah]

If she was truly schizophrenic, almost anything could have set her off.

If she wasn't...the usual suspects in the hellfire & brimstone community have a lot to answer for.

It's been a cliche of Christian radio for the past 30 years that "We are living in the End Times."

Aren't the End Times supposed to END at some time?

[MineralMan]

"I wonder if these clerics actually believe they're going to scare people into heaven."

Well, actually, I suspect that the idea is to scare the Hell out of them. (humor intended)

[MineralMan]

"It's been a cliche of Christian radio for the past 30 years that "We are living in the End Times."
"

Oddly enough, if you look into the history of women who kill their children like this, you often find what is termed "an excess of religious zeal," along with underlying mental disorders.

I can see that as a possibility here. The A of G churches tend to be preachers of doom, for sure, with Armageddon just around the corner at all times. A mentally-ill person can easily take such preachings to heart and do something that, in their minds, would "spare their children."

While I do not know the details of this case yet, I'd be willing to bet that something on that order is involved here, and it's so sad. Perhaps with appropriate medication, these children would still be alive. If that's the case, then it's a double tragedy.

[MinuteGal]

It wasn't an argument, just an observation. I've never been to an "end times are around the corner and a ball of fire is coming soon" church....and never would set foot in one.

I've always been a member of the conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran church. We don't take kindly to hysterical apocalyptic rants from the pulpit about the end of the world.

Our pastors do prepare us for the day we meet our maker, but with faith, hope and calm, not dire, emotional and scary threats of an impending Armageddon.

Leni

[MattGarrett]

There has GOT to be an ultimate punishment to fit a heanous crime such as this. Thank god we have the death penalty.

[bytheBook]

Some personalities do not cope well with the 'End Time' teachings of churches such as the A of G. My ex-husband starting attending one of these churches and became rather obsessed with the end of the world. It seemed to trigger his paranoia as he then moved on to believing that I was trying to kill both him and our children. He claimed that a 'prophet' in the church was warning him. It was all very weird. He was unable to convince the court that I was dangerous but I am now divorced and it has taken our three small children a while to see through all of the frightening things that their father has told them both about the impending end of the world and their 'potential serial killer' mother. By the way, he also believes in aliens and that just about everyone is out to get him.

[MineralMan]

"There has GOT to be an ultimate punishment to fit a heanous crime such as this. Thank god we have the death penalty."

It is truly a horrifying situation. However, if this woman is mentally ill, thank goodness we have the mercy not to kill those who are insane. They need our pity, not our anger. If, as I suspect, this woman acted out of some delusion, perhaps even a religious delusion, the society will not kill her, but treat her for her illness.

As the deity you apparently believe in was supposed to say, "Vengeance is mine." It is not our place to judge, according to the Bible.

For myself, as a non-Christian, I simply have compassion for those who have their thinking go haywire from mental illness. It is a tragedy that these children are dead, and a tragedy that a woman could be so ill that she would do such a thing.

If you read some of the other stories here, she apparently told the police that "God" had told her to do this thing. She was delusional. I hope the good people of Texas will have the compassion to treat the woman's apparent illness, and not just execute her if she is mentally ill.

If you believe in God, then you must listen to His words, when he tells you not to judge.

[MineralMan]

"Some personalities do not cope well with the 'End Time' teachings of churches such as the A of G. My ex-husband starting attending one of these churches and became rather obsessed with the end of the world. It seemed to trigger his paranoia as he then moved on to believing that I was trying to kill both him and our children. "

How horrifying for you. I'm sure, though, that the church itself was not teaching him this: it was part of an underlying mental illness, I'm sure.

Thank goodness you are out of the situation.

[kuma]

She could have been planning this for a long time. I can understand why the family's church would stand behind the victims (father & sons) but they should be telling the murderer to repent.

You cannot have the seal of the Spirit and be a murderer at the same time. Murderers and a long list of others "...such as these do not belong to Christ"

[SerpentDove]

The death penalty is supported in both the Old and New Testaments. You probably know that, just bringing it up again.

[bytheBook]

While I do not believe that the Pastor was in any way responsible for my husband's delusions I became increasingly concerned by the things that the so-called 'prophet' at this church was suggesting. I fear that emphasis on speaking in tongues, modern day gifts of prophecy, and faith healing tend to attract some of the less stable members of our society.

[kuma]

Oh boy. Here we go. Even though the article states that the police already investigated the sermons and that she was not on any medications and that there was no indication of any problems by the people who knew her best:

1. The father is getting blamed for being asleep at night. Some people sleep through anything. Even though she didn't exhibit unusual behavior I suppose all men should make sure their wives are never alone with the children "just in case".

2. The pastor, her brother-in-law, as far as I can tell didn't write up the plans.

I keep waiting for it to dawn on anybody that maybe she had this planned. Just because you go to church does not exclude you from murderous thoughts.

3. Oh and now a particular denomination is now responsible also spreading it all over the US.

So much for the Christian concept of people being responsible for their actions.

[Mustang]

Good retort BR!

I maybe slipping into a panoptic field of cow patties, but...imho, cause & effect affects this kind of horror.

One could ask....how could this atrocity happen? Forget the drugs she should'a taken or the psyco-babble excuses.

He's my take. An unquestioned and blind acceptance of "any" rigid religiosity will fail the seeker. It's akin to putting a skateboarder on the Cross-Bronx Expressway, telling'em the pot-holes are no big deal.

I confess and acknowledge, as an ex-altar boy and 'fallen' Catholic,(of many moons ago), to find spirituality, peace and calm in a Higher Power who offers comfort, more to my liking...I pray, hope the prayer's are being heard, BUT, please...I don't think I'll be getting "voices" back. At least while I'm still wearing this mortal coil.

Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"..

[Mustang]

BTW, MM...I neglected to mention prior. Your above replys reminded me of a phrase we had in the Navy, i.e,:

"Be careful now, you're making too much sense"

Your point of view is well taken. Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"

[Rainmist]

I am a mother of two, and actually taking your child's life is a line a majority of us would never cross. People who cross this line have got to be psychotic. They have to be. How could you be sane and do something like this ??? There's no way.

[John H K]

I did do a search on Google, and discovered that many Assembly of God ministers advise against the use of psychiatric drugs. It's possible that this church was on which discouraged such use. It's also possible that the use of such drugs might well have saved the lives of these children.

Yep.

There's a tremendous amount of stupidity floating around about antidepressants, and about other psychiatric drugs (and interesting that my old friend "Mabelkitty" as usual is insatiable in her desire to find idiotic positions to support). One interesting thing is that a fanatical crusade against psychiatric meds is a common element of fringe religious groups all the way from some fundie Christians to nutballs like the Scientologists.

I bet if you looked into the statistics, people on heart medication are far more likely to die of heart attacks.

Ergo, isn't it clear that heart medication causes heart attacks?

The rabid anti-antidepressant lobby follows this logic. Unfortunately, people with psychotic problems may not have those problems recognized early enough, and they'll be started off with antidepressants, do something violent and horrible, and the antidepressants will be blamed (when in reality the problem was the person should have been on powerful ANTIPSYCHOTIC drugs).

This woman is clearly insane, likely due to a chemical inbalance. She wasn't responsible for her actions.

People are very resistant to thinking about the chemical functioning of their brains. With a fundamental chemical problem like this your free will is gone.

She still needs to be locked up in a facility for the criminally insane for the rest of her life, though.