In one of the truly most bizarre criminal cases this year, Hayden Smith, 18, has been arrested after killing six of his mother’s chickens after demanding that she call the parents of his girlfriend to repair the relationship. I cannot imagine why the girl’s parents would not want her going out with Smith.
Police say that Smith threatened to kill a chicken every 15 minutes until his mother made the call. He then allegedly sent pictures of the dead chickens every prescribed interval. He killed six before he was arrested.
He has been charged not with animal cruelty but domestic violence third degree and criminal mischief. I presume that lack of a cruelty charge appears reflects that the chickens may be killed for food so only as they are killed in any number of humane ways.
Notably, Smith also threatened to burn his mother’s house down, kill deputies and himself. I would hope that the first step in the defense is a psychological evaluation.
I am pretty sure that he is past the telephone call stage of repairing the relationship with the girl’s parents.
Broke down in Buffalo, yes. Sons need their Father’s. Single parent households may be o.k. for girls who can look up to their mother as a role model. But boys need fathers to look up to and model behavior.
Pretty lil momma’s boy… the product of a fatherless upbringing.
This guy sounds like a lunatic, and his girlfriend is well rid of him. I, too, am curious why he got through 6 hens. That’s an hour and 15 minutes.
Jane – I loved your stories about your hens. I keep a little organic flock, myself, and name them. My little boy has hand raised chicks, and he helped me recently save 2 chicks who pipped their shell quite late, after the hen had left the nest. They got so chilled they almost died. They’re quite friendly but the hens have zero ability to either escape or defend themselves from danger. If they see a hawk while they’re out free ranging they run onto the patio and try to get my attention through the window.
Regardless of whether chickens can be slaughtered for food, it was her choice whether to keep them as pets for their eggs, or raise them for meat, not his. And depending on how he killed them, the meat could be ruined. I wonder if he was jealous of the attention they got. What a waste. Farmers always took the wanton killing of livestock very seriously.
My little boy’s pet pullet follows him around and eats out of his hand. As an omnivore, I eat chicken, but I don’t eat my pets. I could probably raise meat birds if I knew their intended purpose from the start and kept myself distant.
He was clearly terrorizing her by killing the birds. Well, he got her attention. He’s now in jail, and hopefully undergoing drug testing and a psych evaluation. Thank God he acted out enough that they can actually do an evaluation on him, because he sounds dangerous. If he gets a slap on the wrist for this, the parents of the girlfriend are going to have a lot to be worried about.
Unfortunately, our current laws require a high level of proof that someone is a threat to himself or others before he can be involuntarily committed, and even then, it is usually a brief hold. That’s why we keep reading about all these red flags among mass murderers. Family observe the downward slide, but are virtually powerless to do anything about it.
I’ve seen this distinction between pet and livestock before. That is why someone can kill a treasured old horse, but not owe the owner much in court because the animal no longer had a high monetary value.
Sometimes love hurts?
Tell that to the dead chickens.
arty, We often have people who are the subject of the post, or folks like yourself, close to the subject join in the discussion. Thanks for commenting, and please join in on the other posts. We have too many Northerners, and not enough southern folk. There’s a post from earlier today about the Confederate flag. I would like to know your take on it.
Arty, can you give any more details about this story?
I liked the comment from a reader of the WHNT news report: “Sometimes, love hurts.”
ALABAMA TEEN ARRESTED AFTER KILLING MOTHER’S CHICKENS.
QUESTION: Was his mother a chicken?
Cooped up by the mother hen.
Thank you Jane; of all the comments here…yours was the most sincerely helpful in so far as providing us with behind the scenes detail of the human to chicken culture in Alabama. In other words, for as long as they each live, so can one who is more tender hearted bond and enjoy them as individual creatures which is why they do get named; as with your daughter’s (pet) Rosemary. Your writing is gloriously descriptive and overall, this made me smile and appreciate one of the more rare moments of humanity when it is being expressed at its ‘compassionate’ best.
Secondly, I found this story doubly interesting because earlier this week a friend told me how…after she’s felt compelled to rescue her 21 y/o (youngest) son (mostly from himself, but also law) by bringing him into the safety of her home (hopefully, temporarily)…he too, is acting out while making bizarre, angry and threatening threats to her and his next up sibling…as though this was how to bully negotiate when there are differences between them; including that she’s taken away his phone and car keys. Of course I asked if he was on drugs, but recent testing denies this and in the past, he has used recreational Maryjane, but to best of her awareness is not now. She says this is entirely abnormal behavior for her youngest son and that when she calls the authorities (mental health, police) none are willing to come to speak to him until he actually does something so there is no inclination on their part to intervene. So, what the heck happened to pro-active or anticipatory prevention BEFORE any harm is done? Although he acts like Jeckel and Hyde…she says he sticks to the same story from day to day and accurately knows all the people involved but as though his thinking is rooted in delusion, he puts them in (seemingly) recalled situations that have never happened.
Elsewhere, there are odd stories from all around the world of various species of animals who are acting unnaturally aggressive or, not only being territorial if a human enters their domain, but are actually coming in closer to human settlements to then opportunistically assault whomever the unfortunate on their path. Long friendly and tolerant family dogs are suddenly turning on their human family members and perhaps not so coincidentally, so is there a summer movie entitled “ZOO: The animals take over” which, from previews, appears to be about the animal kingdom taking out its long suffering revenge on a hapless human population. And not to be missed, so was there a recent Zoo (prison) break in the country of Georgia when unseasonable flooding rains caused enough destruction to allow the animals (large cats, hippos, etc.) to get loose and wreak havoc on those both surprised and defenseless.
So, as we consider the oddity of these findings, who amongst us is sharp enough to identity the common thread that is now more obviously and quite adversely affecting (“altering”) the biochemical functioning in the brains and central nervous systems of both the human and animal species?
Domestic charges? You have to be kidding me. Some one was doing serious drugs.
I could see vandalism / destruction of property….
I just watched the President of this country give a eulogy to the slain folks in SC. That was amazing.
Beldar
So should the dog be at least three years old as well?
The gay rights decision just came out. I can see that it would be fair to recognize a marriage between a male dog and a female human as long as the human was 21 years of age. So HumpinDog needs to have his case heard. I hope he does not live in some former Confederate State.
This young man is a manipulator who resorts to violence to ostensibly get his way. This is one scary dude. And the mother? Without knowing a thing about her or her motivations except her son’s violent behavior, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were afraid of him or intimidated by him at some level so that he has considerable control over her.
Paul
If he was related to Chicken George maybe they could charge him with fratricide.