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12-11-03, 09:04 AM
U.S. National - AP
Ill. Couple Face Charges in Three Deaths
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By JIM PAUL, Associated Press Writer
CLINTON, Ill. - Maurice Lagrone Jr. and Amanda L. Hamm face first-degree murder charges in the deaths of her three children. The couple are scheduled to appear in court Thursday, but were not expected to enter a plea, said Sheriff Roger W. Massey.
Hamm's three children died on Sept. 2 when their car went into a lake. The charges carry aggravating factors that could make them eligible for the death penalty if convicted. The two were being held on $5 million bond at the DeWitt County Jail.
People here are wondering why investigators think a woman and her boyfriend let her three children drown, but authorities say they won't disclose their theory of a motive until the couple's murder trial.
"We still have the question of why," said Diana Todd, who lived near Amanda Hamm in this community of 7,500 about 140 miles southwest of Chicago. "But this I think is going to help give a lot of us some closure, too, on why."
The children — 6-year-old Christopher Hamm, 3-year-old Austin Brown and 23-month-old Kyleigh Hamm — died after being pulled by rescuers from the submerged car in Clinton Lake. Their mother called 911.
When officials arrived within five minutes of receiving the call, the sheriff said, the rear end of the car was in 4 1/2 feet of water. The vehicle went into the lake front first.
Authorities have said Hamm, 27, and Lagrone, 28, 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.
Massey said investigators believe they know the motive, but he refused to disclose their theory about what happened before deputies arrived. While he did rule out life-insurance money as the reason, Massey said the answers to that question will have to wait for a trial.
The charges didn't surprise Todd, the neighbor.
"Something just wasn't right about it," she said. "I'm a parent of three children myself and I just could not see three children going into the water and not doing nothing. I would have died trying to get them out."
The case drew parallels to the 1994 case of Susan Smith, who was convicted of drowning her two young sons by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake with the boys strapped into their car seats. Massey said the case has "some similarities" to the Smith case, but he would not elaborate.
Ill. Couple Face Charges in Three Deaths
38 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
By JIM PAUL, Associated Press Writer
CLINTON, Ill. - Maurice Lagrone Jr. and Amanda L. Hamm face first-degree murder charges in the deaths of her three children. The couple are scheduled to appear in court Thursday, but were not expected to enter a plea, said Sheriff Roger W. Massey.
Hamm's three children died on Sept. 2 when their car went into a lake. The charges carry aggravating factors that could make them eligible for the death penalty if convicted. The two were being held on $5 million bond at the DeWitt County Jail.
People here are wondering why investigators think a woman and her boyfriend let her three children drown, but authorities say they won't disclose their theory of a motive until the couple's murder trial.
"We still have the question of why," said Diana Todd, who lived near Amanda Hamm in this community of 7,500 about 140 miles southwest of Chicago. "But this I think is going to help give a lot of us some closure, too, on why."
The children — 6-year-old Christopher Hamm, 3-year-old Austin Brown and 23-month-old Kyleigh Hamm — died after being pulled by rescuers from the submerged car in Clinton Lake. Their mother called 911.
When officials arrived within five minutes of receiving the call, the sheriff said, the rear end of the car was in 4 1/2 feet of water. The vehicle went into the lake front first.
Authorities have said Hamm, 27, and Lagrone, 28, 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.
Massey said investigators believe they know the motive, but he refused to disclose their theory about what happened before deputies arrived. While he did rule out life-insurance money as the reason, Massey said the answers to that question will have to wait for a trial.
The charges didn't surprise Todd, the neighbor.
"Something just wasn't right about it," she said. "I'm a parent of three children myself and I just could not see three children going into the water and not doing nothing. I would have died trying to get them out."
The case drew parallels to the 1994 case of Susan Smith, who was convicted of drowning her two young sons by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake with the boys strapped into their car seats. Massey said the case has "some similarities" to the Smith case, but he would not elaborate.