Hanks called 911 on the morning of Oct. 20th to report that she had found Matthew D. Albert, 27, in bed with a gunshot wound to the head. She said that they had been arguing the night before over Albert’s suspicion of an affair and that, after sending her two older kids to school, she took off with her 3-year-old boy to the town of Mizpah, Minnesota. She left her 18-month-old baby with Albert. She reportedly said at first that she found him still alive with the gunshot to the head. She later claimed that she saw her 3-year-old son playing with the gun and it went off when she tried to take it from him. Later still she admitted to just shooting the man “because she wanted a better father for the children.” She then threw the gun into a swamp, where it was later recovered.
I am a bit surprised that the charge is second-degree murder and not first-degree murder.
I also cannot escape the irony that Hanks ran off to a place named Mizpah, which is a Jewish term for the emotional bond between people who are separated (either physically or by death). Mizpah jewelry is worn to signify such a bond with the departed. Genesis 31:49
“And Mizpah; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”
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