Mother Guilty of Murdering Her Three Children
Convicted of First Degree Murder in Botched Murder-Suicide Plan
Oct 28, 2009
After taking a bath, Cathie Gauthier, 35, called 911. When police arrived at her bungalow in Saguenay, Quebec around midnight on New Year’s Day, 2009, they found Gauthier lying on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a slash to her wrist. The body of her husband, Marc Laliberté, 46 was also found on the floor. He was dead from loss of blood after slashing one of his wrists.
Charged with Murdering Her Children
In the couple’s bedroom, police found the bodies of their three children; Joëlle, 12, Marc-Ange 7, and Louis-Phillipe, 4. The children were lying in their parents’ bed with their arms neatly crossed over their chests. There were no signs of trauma on the children.
The police quickly determined that this was a murder-suicide pact and Gauthier, who had been taken to the hospital, was later charged with three counts of first degree murder. She was also charged with assisting the suicide of her husband.
Gauthier’s Trial
Gauthier pleaded not guilty to the charges and the trial began in early October. The evidence revealed that the children died after being given a combination of Gravol and a prescription tranquilizer.
After the deaths of Laliberté and the children, letters were received by friends and family members that were signed by both Laliberté and Gauthier. The letters indicated that the family would be dead by the time the letters were received and also said that the couple were killing the children out of love; so that the entire family could be together. The letters were described as being written in such a way as to make the recipients feel guilty.
Letters had also been found in the home that indicated that the couple intended to kill themselves and their children. The prosecution tendered evidence that a short time before the murders, Gauthier had purchased double the normal amount of the prescription drug.
Gauthier gave evidence at her trial. She attempted to put all of the blame on what had happened on her deceased husband. She testified that when her husband first suggested the murder-suicide, she did not take him seriously.
She also testified that she felt disconnected and outside of her body when the killings were taking place.
Gauthier could not come up with a reasonable explanation for why she purchased double the amount of drugs that she normally did or why she took a bath before dialing 911.
The jury deliberated for more than three days before coming back with guilty verdicts on the three first degree murder counts. Gauthier was sentenced to the mandatory concurrent terms of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Parents Who Kill Their Children
This was not a case of a mother who kills her children but one of a joint plan by a mother and father to kill themselves to and to take their children with them. While mothers who kill often do so because of postpartum depression or because they suffer from Munchausen by proxy, this was not the case here. There are different dynamics involved where the killing is done by both parents.
A study of parents who kill their children was undertaken by researchers in Finland and published in May, 2009. The study found that those who commit filicide are not generally psychopathic. Nor are they a socially isolated type of person or a substance abuser or a person with a criminal record as so many murderers are. Rather they are found to have distinct emotional problems that make it difficult to function in everyday life. They also attempt or commit suicide in larger numbers than do other murderers.
Laliberté and Gauthier appear to fit into this pattern. The couple had difficulty coping financially. Laliberté had not worked for a long time and the couple declared bankruptcy a couple of months before the murders. Gauthier had been fired from several retail jobs prior to the triple murder and suicide.
The Finnish study recommends that these types of killings by parents can be prevented by more support for families when it is recognized that they are becoming dysfunctional due to their inability to emotionally cope with their everyday lives.
Gauthier’s lawyer has announced that his client intends to appeal her convictions.
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