When Mothers Kill: Could this Child have been Saved?

On May 13, while playing with her children at an Albuquerque, New Mexico playground, a woman made a gruesome discovery. The mother noticed a small sneaker buried in the sand. Thinking that it belonged to one of the children at the playground, she attempted to recover it, and return the sneaker to its rightful owner. Instead, she made a discovery that was unimaginable. Attached to the sneaker was the body of a three-year-old boy. For nearly one week, authorities searched desperately to identify the child -- circulating sketches throughout the neighborhood. The toddler was soon identified as Tyruss Toribio. What is so shocking about this story is that Tyruss was smothered to death by his mother, 23-year-old, Tiffany Toribio, a member of the Zia Pueblo Indian tribe.

Apparently, Tiffany had been asked to leave both her mother's and a friend's home because she was ignoring her son, and "witholding affection." With no place to go, both she and her son slept for days in the very same park his body was found. A strange twist to this story is that young Tyruss appeared to have been well cared for; and, there was no immediate evidence of abuse. So, what went wrong here? According to authorities, Tiffany smothered her baby boy while he was sleeping on a climbing gym. When asked how she could have committed such a despicable crime, Ms. Toribio stated that, "she did not want her son to be raised with no one caring about him the same way she had to grow up with no one caring about her," according to Police Chief Ray Schultz.

So, Tiffany has been branded a horrible mother, and has been judged solely responsible for her son's death. End of story, right? Wrong. It has to be explained to me how not one, but two people could have not only kicked this woman and her child to the streets, but do so after they both claim that she was not physically or emotionally attentive to her son? Why didn't anyone call the police or social services to voice their concerns? My question is, is Tiffany the only culprit here? Could this child have been saved?

Although she had been labeled a "partier," Ms. Toribio had no criminal record, or a history of either drug or alcohol abuse. This leaves me to believe that she may very well suffer from some form of mental illness that had not been diagnosed or treated. If this is in fact the case, then the death of little Tyruss, not only lies on the shoulder of his mother, but on society as a whole.

According to Women's Health USA, mental disorders are most common amongst women between the ages of 18-25, with close to 23 percent of this age group showing signs of serious psychological distress. Twice as many women have diagnosable mental illness as their male counter parts. Yet, women are less likely to receive proper treatment, or support.

My heart goes out to the Toribio family. The death of a child is never easy to grasp – especially when it is at the hands of its mother. However, I can’t help but feel that the support net for Tiffany failed as well. First, if Tiffany’s non-responsive behavior towards her child was so severe that she was thrown out of not one, but two homes, a call to HHS and the police should have been placed. Ms. Toribio was in apparent need of psychological assistance. Second, what concerned individual would kick a child and his non-attentive mother out into the streets? Did they not fear for the child’s safety?

I just don’t get it.