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Mother Shakes Baby To Death For Interrupting Her During FarmVille

#1

Hylian

Hylian

"FarmVille" Interruption Cited in Baby's Murder



A 22-year-old mother from Jacksonville, Florida, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shaking her 3-month-old son to death after his crying interrupted her FarmVille game.

The mother, Alexandra V. Tobias, was arrested in January and declared her plea on Wednesday before Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud, The Florida Times-Union reports.
She told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette “to compose herself,” and proceeded to shake him again. The baby may have hit his head during one of the two shakings, she said.


FarmVille, named one of the “worst inventions” in recent decades by Time magazine, has more than 60 million members, most of whom access the game through FacebookFacebook. Some players have found it so addicting that they’ve lost their jobs and racked up debts north of $1,000.


Needless to say, it is Ms. Tobias — and not the game itself — that is responsible for the death of her 3-month-old son. This is not the first time that a virtual game has led to murder; in 2009, 28-year-old Joseph Johnson of Chicago was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting his companion in the head while playing an Xbox game.
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:facepalm:


#2



makare

That really is sick. Although I imagine there is more to it than just interrupting her game. I wonder what else was going on. Not that I am in any way excusing her, Im not , but just because that is what she was doing at the time doesn't make it relevant to what happened.


#3



Element 117

There are no words that express my rage when I hear these stories.


#4

strawman

strawman

makare said:
I imagine there is more to it than just interrupting her game.
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It makes the situation seem a little less horrible to believe that there's more to it than interrupting a game. There are people, however, who become so involved in the game that interruptions result in significant anger, and it doesn't take much shaking to kill a 3 month old.

Still, the bit about taking a smoking break from shaking her baby, then resuming the murder does suggest that whether it was the game or not, she was determined in her purpose to kill the child, though it wasn't pre-meditated. I suspect you are right - there's more to it than the interruption of the game - due to this portion of the murder.


#5

ThatGrinningIdiot!

ThatGrinningIdiot!

First Lady Puffinstuff;447913][QUOTE=makare said:
I imagine there is more to it than just interrupting her game.
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It makes the situation seem a little less horrible to believe that there's more to it than interrupting a game. There are people, however, who become so involved in the game that interruptions result in significant anger, and it doesn't take much shaking to kill a 3 month old.

Still, the bit about taking a smoking break from shaking her baby, then resuming the murder does suggest that whether it was the game or not, she was determined in her purpose to kill the child, though it wasn't pre-meditated. I suspect you are right - there's more to it than the interruption of the game - due to this portion of the murder.[/QUOTE]

From what I've experienced, young mothers usually have pent up resentment towards their infants.


#6



makare

It could have been the baby was crying all day. Again NOT an excuse but that can psychologically wear you down. I'm just concerned that people are going to read these articles and focus on the game aspect instead of the death of the child.


#7

IronBrig4

IronBrig4

22 years old with a kid already? And she smokes with a baby in the house? I think there are other issues at play here.


#8



Element 117

There's a certain mountain goat I'd like her to meet in hell.


#9

Dei

Dei

IronBrig4 said:
22 years old with a kid already?
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It is this sentiment that makes me feel so out of place around other mothers. ;) (Being 30 with an 8 year old didn't used to be so young!)

But the media loves to sensationalize these things. There were definitely other factors at play, but we will probably never know what they are, other than what we guess.


#10

figmentPez

figmentPez

"Man, FarmVille is so huge! Do you realize it's the second-biggest browser-based Social-networking-centered farming game in the world?"

Imagine how many people Happy Farm has killed.


#11

IronBrig4

IronBrig4

Dei said:
It is this sentiment that makes me feel so out of place around other mothers. ;) (Being 30 with an 8 year old didn't used to be so young!)
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True, it's not that unusual. And I worked for the Boy Scouts for years and came across a lot of young mothers (especially in the Mormon troops). I guess I find it odd because most of my peers (mostly grad students) are still single without kids.


#12

Tress

Tress

The other factor that may have contributed to this is something I like to call "she is a horrible excuse of a human being who should be punished to the full extent of the law with no sympathy."


#13

Adam

Adammon

figmentPez said:
"Man, FarmVille is so huge! Do you realize it's the second-biggest browser-based Social-networking-centered farming game in the world?"

Imagine how many people Happy Farm has killed.
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It's worse than that. Zynga is a more valuable company than EA now :(


#14

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Adammon;447979][QUOTE=figmentPez said:
"Man, FarmVille is so huge! Do you realize it's the second-biggest browser-based Social-networking-centered farming game in the world?"

Imagine how many people Happy Farm has killed.
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It's worse than that. Zynga is a more valuable company than EA now :([/QUOTE]

For now anyway. The class-action lawsuits have already started against them. I'm willing to bet they settle, close up shop, and laugh at their investors.


#15



makare

what are they being sued for?


#16

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

makare said:
what are they being sued for?
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Mostly Copyright issues.


#17



makare

I dont really like Zynga much but I love Pet Society. I hope that doesn't go away.


#18

Adam

Adammon

makare said:
what are they being sued for?
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Class actions around privacy Zynga faces class-action privacy-centric lawsuit | TG Daily


#19



Jiarn

IronBrig4 said:
22 years old with a kid already? And she smokes with a baby in the house? I think there are other issues at play here.
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Not sure what you meant by that. I'm 29 with a 12yr old and I smoke (outside, which is what it sounds like she did) . I'm going to shake a baby because of this?


#20

ThatGrinningIdiot!

ThatGrinningIdiot!

Jiarn;447994][QUOTE=IronBrig4 said:
22 years old with a kid already? And she smokes with a baby in the house? I think there are other issues at play here.
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Not sure what you meant by that. I'm 29 with a 12yr old and I smoke (outside, which is what it sounds like she did) . I'm going to shake a baby because of this?[/QUOTE]

He isn't inferring that you're bad parent, or that all smokers are bad parents. Where the hell did you get the impression?


#21

Vagabond

V.Bond

She wasn't a mother, just a lady with an unwanted obligation.

Any number of things would lead to this same outcome in her case. It's disgusting.


#22

Nile

Nile

It's the fact that she went back and shook him again that's the worst part about this to me. What a horrible waste of life.


#23

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Vagabond said:
She wasn't a mother, just a lady with an unwanted obligation.
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Well-put. Seconded, and may this "should-have-been-a-blowjob" get shanked in jail whilst awaiting trial.

There are too many mothers in jail who would do ANYTHING to see their kids for her NOT to see some kind of retribution.


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