Dad charged with the murder of 4-year-old son, attempted murder of two other children (Durham, North Carolina)

Not a well written article. So much here that is confusing or completely irrelevant to the case at hand.

For all the space wasted on what the Clueless Neighbors thought (always a waste of time), or what the neighborhood housing values were (which is totally irrelevant), it's not made clear at all where Mom was in all this. Her name was on the deed, it seems. Her existence is generally acknowledged. So was she home when Daddy JOSEPH A. MITCHELL decided to start smothering everybody to death? Did she even live there? Why was the 10-year-old daughter left with the horrible task of calling 911 if Mom was there?

It's dangled that economic problems were a factor, but with zero evidence. If Mom is NOT in the house, isn't it just as possible that custody/visitation with an abusive father MIGHT have been an issue? Or perhaps domestic violence? Of course, I don't KNOW any of this. But then nobody had any evidence that "hard financial times" were a factor either. And that didn't stop the reporters from speculating in print.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/22/1710589/nc-father-to-be-charged-in-four.html

N.C. father to be charged in four-year-old's death
By Stanley B. Chambers Jr. & Amy Dunn

Posted: Wednesday, Sep. 22, 2010

A 4-year-old child died overnight in this northwest Durham County home.
CHUCK LIDDY- CLIDDY@NEWSOBSERVER.COM

DURHAM, N.C . - A father allegedly smothered his four-year-old son to death early this morning and tried to do the same to his two other children, investigators said.

Now as Joseph A. Mitchell, 46, recovers from self-inflicted stab wounds, detectives with the Durham County Sheriff's Office plan to charge him with murder and two counts of attempted murder sometime this afternoon.

"We have enough evidence to know what went on in that house," said Lt. Stan Harris with the sheriff's office. "As tragic as it is, we'll do what we have to do."

Paramedics and Durham County Sheriff's deputies were initially called to 17 Thistle Trace regarding the boy having breathing difficulty at about 12:30 a.m., Harris said. While they worked on the child, Mitchell was found in an upstairs room.

Investigators discovered that Mitchell also tried to smother his two other children, ages 10 and 13, but both escaped, said Harris, who believed it was the 10-year-old girl who dialed 911.

Mitchell and his son were taken to Duke Hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead. The father was rushed into surgery. Harris said the family were suffering through hard financial times but it was unknown if that was a factor in the killing. "That is the big mystery until we can talk to our primary suspect," he said.

Durham County property records list Joseph A. and Christine Mitchell as the owners of the home, which has an assessed value of $431,644.

Neighbors said the Mitchells were a nice family who participated in activities in the Hardscrabble Plantation neighborhood, a community of nearly 300 homes off Saint Marys Road, about one mile west of Guess Road, straddling the Durham and Orange county lines.

According to the neighborhood website, most homes are on one-acre lots. Residents of the 614-acre neighborhood share a pool, tennis courts, playground, athletic field, clubhouse and a stocked pond.

"I know they love their children and they were very kind," said neighbor Ralph Sears, who was acquainted with the Mitchells through neighborhood cookouts and talk about lawncare.

"We're obviously sad something like this would happen. We're wishing them the best," he said.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/22/1710589/nc-father-to-be-charged-in-four.html#ixzz10Ho3lhPd