Bellefontaine, Ohio – The day of her arrest, Brittany
Pilkington, 23-year-old mother of four children (three deceased) confessed to
murdering – over a period of several years – her three sons by placing blankets
over their heads to suffocate them.
Her explanation of motive was unusual. She claimed her
husband Joseph Pilkington (43), a worker in the Marysville Honda factory, paid
more attention to the boys than he did to their daughter.
According to Logan County prosecutor William Goslee, “in her
mind, she was protecting her daughter from being not as loved as the boys were
by their father,” as the Columbus Dispatch reported.
On August 11, 2015, the mother had called 911 to report that
3-month-old Noah had stopped breathing about 3 a.m. He was rushed at the
hospital Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine where he was pronounced “dead on
arrival.” Baby Noah and his four-year old sister Hailey had been in protective custody
only a week before the murder – pending investigation of the deaths of the child’s two brothers. After a
Logan County coroner recently determined that neither Gavin nor his brother,
Niall, had died of suspicious causes and the causes of their deaths couldn’t be
determined, a judge ordered the children returned home.
In the earlier instances the father’s grief was normal while
the mother demonsteated an emotionless response. At 4-year-old Gavin’s funeral
in April 2015, the mother was smiled while posing for a family photo, as Joseph
Pilkington's brother, Jim, told a Columbus Dispatch reporter. He thought “It
was kind of odd.”
A neighbor James Breaston, 78, said he was home when the
4-year-old died on April 6. The father, observed Breaston, “was crying, the
tears were rolling, and she was just cold.” The mother “just stared like
nothing happened.”
After consulting with a lawyer Mrs. Pilkington retracted her
confession and returned to her previous “accidental death” narrative.
On Aug. 20, 2015, Judge Ann E. Beck, at the Bellefontaine
Municipal Court, set bond at $1 million and set a preliminary hearing for 5
p.m. Aug. 25.
Their daughter, Hailey, was to celebrate her fourth birthday
in August 2015, just weeks following her mother’s arrest . Hailey has once
again taken into custody by Logan County Children Services.
Pilkington’s trial is scheduled for late February 2017. If she
is found guilty, she may face the death penalty.
[Robert St. Estephe; based on facts reported in: Rachelle
Blidner, “Ohio mom confesses to killing 3 sons over 13 months so daughter would
get more attention from dad,” New York
Daily News, Aug. 19, 2015; &
Bellefontaine mom says she killed 3
sons because husband ignored their daughter,”
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“Prosecutor Bill Goslee said Brittany confessed to the
murders, and said she was motivated by jealousy that her husband, 43-year-old
Joseph Pilkington, paid more attention to their sons than he did to their
surviving 3-year-old daughter, Hailey.” [“Prosecutor:
Brittany Pilkington Worried Boys Would Grow Up to Be Abusive,” ABC 22/Fox 45,
Aug. 19, 2015]
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3 Murders (all suffocated):
July 22, 2014 – Niall
Pilkington, 3-month-old.
April 6, 2015 – Gavin Pilkington, 4-year-old.
Aug.
11, 2015 – Noah Pilkington, 3-month-old.
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Here is another case of interest: Mom Hates Little Boys, She Says, So She Murders Her Son: Georgette Brucks - 1949
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[5404-1/9/20]
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Here is another case of interest: Mom Hates Little Boys, She Says, So She Murders Her Son: Georgette Brucks - 1949
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For more cases of this type, see Serial Baby-Killer Moms.
[5404-1/9/20]
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The father of the 3 boys, Joseph 43, dated Brittany’s mother since she was the age of 9. He pretended to be Brittany’s step dad until she was 17 years of age and then he started having sex with her. He got Brittany pregnant, ended the relationship with Brittany’s mother, and then married Brittany. Over the next several years he proceeded to get Brittany pregnant 3 more times, and hold her hostage in a controlling isolated relationship. There was something more than misandry going on here. This was sexual abuse of a young girl, and the boys were innocent victims of this ongoing abuse.
ReplyDeleteSerial killers are often people who have been sexually abused. A great many male serial killers are adult victims of childhood abuse including sexual abuse conducted by female perpetrators. When they become serial killers who target female victims, some people simplemindedly reduce this behavior to a formula of misogyny (which leads to the scientifically discredited Engels "patriarchy" theory and the whole ideological structure built up around it).
ReplyDeleteThus, there is more than misogyny in such cases goes without saying. The development of an individual's misandric fixation, when it occurs, is worth exploring objectively. Applying ideology is not recommended by me. The fact that the blog with 2,000 posts includes a comprehensive source on serial killers does not imply that each post of the 2,000 is meant to be an illustration of a single simple notion or term.
All aspects of the crimes must be looked at. This case is one of more than 950 female serial killer cases explored on this blog. There is never a suggestion that the crimes themselves are examples of misandry, yet there is a claim made that scholarship as a whole on female violence is scant, radically incomplete, and frequently wildly distorted by ideologues.