Oxford High School, Michigan, school shooting.

[theprestige]

She just completely ignores him because she's horseback riding. Those messages alone would have me EXTREMELY concerned, but don't worry, she does it again!



These were about 8+ months before the event happened and those are just two of the extremely concerning things he told her, and she completely ignored. It didn't even warrant a reply from her because....HORSES!

Look, they're obviously **** parents without you having to gild the lily like this.

When I'm engaged in active activities (or even just sitting in a movie theater watching a movie), I can easily go a couple hours without checking my phone, or hearing it buzz.

There's plenty of other evidence she's a **** parent. This right here, to me, is just evidence she's a normal human being. At least I hope ignoring your phone for a few hours while you're busy with some other activity is still normal human being type behavior.

 

[smartcooky]

Look, they're obviously **** parents without you having to gild the lily like this.

When I'm engaged in active activities (or even just sitting in a movie theater watching a movie), I can easily go a couple hours without checking my phone, or hearing it buzz.
There's plenty of other evidence she's a **** parent. This right here, to me, is just evidence she's a normal human being. At least I hope ignoring your phone for a few hours while you're busy with some other activity is still normal human being type behavior.

How about two days? You wouldn't respond to your son's panicked text about poltergeists throwing crockery around in the kitchen? For two days?

 

[Meadmaker]

Look, they're obviously **** parents without you having to gild the lily like this.

When I'm engaged in active activities (or even just sitting in a movie theater watching a movie), I can easily go a couple hours without checking my phone, or hearing it buzz.

There's plenty of other evidence she's a **** parent. This right here, to me, is just evidence she's a normal human being. At least I hope ignoring your phone for a few hours while you're busy with some other activity is still normal human being type behavior.

This is the 21st century. You are now required to know the exact whereabouts of your 14 year old children at all times, and respond immediately any time they ask for assistance. If you have small children, like a 14 year old, you must always carry a cell phone with you and have it on so that you can respond immediately.

Or so I'm told.


Anyway, yes they sound like pretty bad parents to me. I'll bet Ethan isn't the only mentally ill one in that family.

 

[Meadmaker]

How about two days? You wouldn't respond to your son's panicked text about poltergeists throwing crockery around in the kitchen? For two days?

Uhhh....I'm pretty sure she probably went home and responded in person some time before two days were up.

 

[Dr. Keith]

If my kid sent me those texts we would all be in therapy. Jesus, if my acid taking friends in high school sent me those texts I’d have asked why the left me out.

 

[Meadmaker]

If my kid sent me those texts we would all be in therapy. Jesus, if my acid taking friends in high school sent me those texts I’d have asked why the left me out.

Indeed. It's a clear sign of mental illness, and not just the anxiety/depression sort that afflicts so many teenagers. That's some severe level of nuttiness.

ETA: But the more I see about this case, the more I think Ethan wasn't the only insane person in the house.

 

[Meadmaker]

If my kid sent me those texts we would all be in therapy. Jesus, if my acid taking friends in high school sent me those texts I’d have asked why the left me out.

On further review, in the March 19 dialog, there's a reference to giving him Xanax. Presumably, if they were giving him Xanax, he was actually under some sort of mental health care at the time, and not just therapy or counseling, but actual psychiatry.

 

[Dr. Keith]

Maybe his treatment needed more attention. Hard to tell. I haven’t seen what the horse looks like.

 

[Trebuchet]

On further review, in the March 19 dialog, there's a reference to giving him Xanax. Presumably, if they were giving him Xanax, he was actually under some sort of mental health care at the time, and not just therapy or counseling, but actual psychiatry.

Or they were just buying it on the street.

 

[Blue Mountain]

(respectful snip)

She just completely ignores him because she's horseback riding. Those messages alone would have me EXTREMELY concerned, but don't worry, she does it again!

These were about 8+ months before the event happened and those are just two of the extremely concerning things he told her, and she completely ignored. It didn't even warrant a reply from her because....HORSES!

I note they were sent eight months prior to the shooting. At the risk of sounding like I'm wholeheartedly defending the parents, it's quite possible believed he was over this episode and his mental health had returned.

 

[theprestige]

How about two days? You wouldn't respond to your son's panicked text about poltergeists throwing crockery around in the kitchen? For two days?

You don't think she went home and talked to him? Maybe called him?

Are you concerned that your outrage won't seem justified without this bit?

 

[Meadmaker]

Or they were just buying it on the street.

Possible. If so though, I would expect a charge. That's illegal, and I can't imagine the prosecutor taking it easy on them for any reason.


It could even be a joke. That Jenn was just one crazy jokester in her text messages. Plenty of lols.

 

[newyorkguy]

Yes! She went home and talked to him.

 

[plague311]

There's plenty of other evidence she's a **** parent. This right here, to me, is just evidence she's a normal human being. At least I hope ignoring your phone for a few hours while you're busy with some other activity is still normal human being type behavior.

I feel like I was establishing a pattern of her seeming to ignore him repeatedly, not for just a few hours. As I said, I quoted a few sections, they weren't the only times. It's pretty clear the kid was either hallucinating, suffering from extreme paranoia, or desperately seeking attention. As a parent, I'd stop riding my ******* horses for awhile and pay attention to my kid. You know, maybe get him squared away? I'm a terrible parent like that though.

On further review, in the March 19 dialog, there's a reference to giving him Xanax. Presumably, if they were giving him Xanax, he was actually under some sort of mental health care at the time, and not just therapy or counseling, but actual psychiatry.

If it was his Xanax. It doesn't really say who it belongs to and no one actually gave him a Xanax. She says in the exchange they gave him melatonin. They were medicating him, I don't see any evidence anywhere that he ever saw a psychiatrist with the parents or that he was seeing one regularly.

I note they were sent eight months prior to the shooting. At the risk of sounding like I'm wholeheartedly defending the parents, it's quite possible believed he was over this episode and his mental health had returned.

Again, this didn't happen in a vacuum. These are events from 8 months prior. There are several more exchanges from within a month to literally days before to the event the actual morning of. My entire point was these exchanges\events weren't some one off experience. From what I can tell they happened with regularity over the course of at least a few years.

 

[Meadmaker]

If it was his Xanax. It doesn't really say who it belongs to and no one actually gave him a Xanax. She says in the exchange they gave him melatonin. They were medicating him, I don't see any evidence anywhere that he ever saw a psychiatrist with the parents or that he was seeing one regularly.

This should come out at trial, but it seems to me if they were giving him prescription medication without a prescription, they should be charged. That's a no brainer.

It's so much of a no brainer that I think the absence of a charge suggests that he did, in fact, have a prescription. I can't imagine the possibility that the prosecutor would just ignore that and not charge the parents.

 

[plague311]

This should come out at trial, but it seems to me if they were giving him prescription medication without a prescription, they should be charged. That's a no brainer.

It's so much of a no brainer that I think the absence of a charge suggests that he did, in fact, have a prescription. I can't imagine the possibility that the prosecutor would just ignore that and not charge the parents.

There's no evidence he ever took the Xanax. What would they be charged with?

ETA: Per that exchange:

James: "I totally thought you were giving him a Xanax last night"
Jennifer: "Does he seem better? No melatonin"
James: "I know"
Jennifer: "But he hasn't had one before. Should only give him half"

So either it was a brand new prescription and they didn't trust the doctor who prescribed it, or they were just making it up as they went along.

 

[Meadmaker]

So either it was a brand new prescription and they didn't trust the doctor who prescribed it, or they were just making it up as they went along.

That's a possibility. It could have just been a joking reference to an idea that he needed some Xanax.

It's a weird situation. He killed four people, but saying whether or not he actually was seeing a psychiatrist would be divulging medical information about a minor, so getting the story straight will require testimony at a trial.

 

[Checkmite]

You don't think she went home and talked to him? Maybe called him?

You do?

Went home, sure. But talked to him about the content of the text messages? Given what I've seen so far I see no compelling reason to assume that.

 

[mgidm86]

These people are drugged out morons, at best. They do not live like normal people, that is obvious. Trying to guess what one meant in a text message and whether or not they gave their son Xanax off the streets...have fun with that. I have been around similar folk...we have no idea what makes sense to these people, and that is a good thing.

 

[theprestige]

You do?

Went home, sure. But talked to him about the content of the text messages? Given what I've seen so far I see no compelling reason to assume that.

I think smartcooky is over egging the pudding. I think the response to these messages is neither here nor there in the larger context of what happened. I think smartcooky's earnest outrage over this point is gratuitous and comical.

There's enough not to like about these people, without having to flip out over these text messages. They bought the kid a gun, and he shot up a school on the their watch. Smartcooky here ranting about text messages like that's how we should judge them.