[The Horrible Esthete]

It's not a hard and fast rule - but it is generally true. .....we can't say either way whether the mother should be blamed at all yet.

There are no absolutes, I agree. And I don't think there's any good in piling on this one mother who just lost a child, a child who wreaked injury and terror on a slew of others. She's probably reeling in misery right now...at least I hope she is.....and quite possibly has no clue what the hell just happened, and what went wrong.

That said, it's hard to think somebody can just "pop off" and do something like this. There has to be some sort of neglect or abuse or some other horrid trauma that is at the root of it all, and it's hard to fathom that a parent who is sufficiently involved with her child's life couldn't see or know something that was horribly wrong with this child. If this tragedy isn't the result of some sort of psychological abuse, then the only other feasible explanation is mental illness.

Shouldn't you know if the child you are raising is insane?