Mom Charged With Killing Own Toddler


LANCASTER, Calif. (April 28) - A Southern California mother has been charged with murdering the 18-month-old daughter she initially reported missing last month.
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AP
Emma Leigh Barker's mother first said her daughter was abducted but later recanted and led police to the child's body.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles County said Monday that 24-year-old Stacey Marie Barker of Quartz Hill was charged with one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death, and child abuse.
Barker had claimed that an attacker knocked her out and abducted her daughter Emma on March 18, authorities said. She later recanted and helped sheriff's deputies locate the child's body in the brush beside a road in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles.
"At this point, as best as we can determine, the infant died through suffocation at the hands of the mother," sheriff's Lt. Pat Nelson said. "After her third or fourth version of events, we knew she wasn't telling the truth."
Barker's brother, Nick, told The Associated Press after her arrest last Thursday that she says the child's death was an accident, but she didn't tell him what happened.
Detectives arrested Barker last Thursday because of "indications she might flee or disappear," Nelson said. She was being held on $1 million bail.
Investigators believe the girl died four or five hours before her mother reported her missing, he said.
Barker is scheduled to be arraigned May 11.

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sounds somewhat like the Anthony case is Florida. Sad

As far as what the world is coming too...are things really getting worse or are we just hearing about it more since we have CNN, FNC, MSNBC?

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What an innocent beautiful child.

I don't know wolf, how to answer your question, I think it is only a small part of the picture that we have so much access to news going on,but I feel there are many reasons we see so many innocent amoung us being, abused, neglected, raped, killed etc.
It is on the news daily another childs face and circumstances.

The population has rose to the highest ever in the US, and quicly" too, so obviously brings more crime too.
We have become a throw away society and unfortunately as cold and cruel as it is, it has come down to even the youngest and most vuneralable amoung us.
It also has become a more "me" type society amoung some.

It is all sad that is for sure, way past sad, it is tragic and should be a loud wake up call too.

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We do hear more of these stories because media has grown but its all very sad. A similar thing has happened here in UK yesterday.

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By Strength and Guile

I don't think the world is getting worse, I think it's just getting a LOT smaller. Information is passed in seconds now, rather then even just hours. We're just being bombarded with a lot more then ever before.

I agree with Axeo, but it is horrible to see nonetheless. Things like that leave you wondering what kind of beings we are.

We like to think ourselves dignified but it sure doesn't look that way most days

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By Strength and Guile

In the end we are just another form of animal. Some of us are just better at hiding the inner beast.

I think this too. Some of us are too good at hiding the demon

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By Strength and Guile

Wolf, i really think with all this technology and info we are just hearing all the horrific tragedies more as our communication grows around the globe. I find it hard to imagine what drives a person to do many of the things we not only know, experience ourselves, but hear about today. I honestly believe some people are just born "sick" meaning mentally ill and not wired right for want of better words. Their souls are dark. I know what i am about to say goes against much of what others believe, but i just think no one in their right mind could torture, rape and brutally murder a child, let alone another adult and from all the studies i am learning lately that is more evident than ever before as far as mental health goes. I am not saying people do not know right from wrong and they should not be held accountable, that they cannot control their actions, although some really cannot. All i am saying is their are some seriously sick people living amongst us. Like others have said, sometimes they do a great job of deceiving all sadly until it is too late.

I can only imagine how horrific and life changing it would be to loose a child through the deliberate actions of another, especially if it was a crime that involved torture or sexual abuse and prolonged agony, but also my thoughts often turn to the parents of the perpetrator how would you feel knowing your child, the one you gave life too was born only to destroy the lives of others? I often wonder how i would cope, if at all.

Their is so much i will NEVER understand in this life, no matter how many times i might go around..................

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The last of all freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
G. W. Allport.