Matricide
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Background: In AD 59, the Roman Emperor Nero is said to have ordered the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger
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Matricide is the act of killing one's mother. As for any type of killing, motives can vary a great deal.
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Known or suspected matricides
- Cleopatra III of Egypt was assassinated in 101 BC by order of her son, Ptolemy X, for her conspiring.
- Ptolemy XI of Egypt had his wife, Berenice III, murdered shortly after their wedding in 80 BC. She was also his stepmother, or perhaps his mother.
- In AD 59, the Roman Emperor Nero is said to have ordered the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger, supposedly because she was conspiring against him.
- Mary Ann Lamb, the mentally ill sister of essayist Charles Lamb, killed their invalid mother during an episode of mania in 1796.
- Sidney Fox, a British man killed his mother in 1929 to gain from her insurance policy. [1] He was convicted and hanged the following year.
- The Parker-Hulme murder case of 1954. This case was chronicled in the film Heavenly Creatures.
- Jack Gilbert Graham killed his mother along with 44 people by planting a dynamite bomb in his mother's suitcase, that was subsequently loaded aboard United Airlines Flight 629 in 1955.
- Charles Whitman killed his mother and wife before going on his killing spree at the University of Texas at Austin that killed 14 people and wounded 31 others, as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin police.
- John Emil List murdered his mother, wife and his three children on November 9, 1971, making List also guilty of filicide and uxoricide. He was a fugitive for 18 years. He was apprehended on June 1, 1989 after an episode of "America's Most Wanted" aired. On May 1, 1990 he was sentenced to 5 life terms in prison.
- Antony Baekeland murdered his mother, Barbara Daly Baekeland on November 11, 1972, at their luxurious London apartment. She had forced him to have sex with her, in order to "cure" his homosexuality.
- Serial killer Edmund Kemper beat his mother to death in 1973, along with one of his mother's friends before turning himself in to the police. He had previously committed half-a-dozen sex-murders. Kemper had been psychologically abused by his domineering mother in his youth.
- Ronald DeFeo, Jr. killed his parents and his four siblings in what would later become known as "The Amityville Horror House" (1974)
- Bradford Bishop bludgeoned his mother, spouse and three children to death in 1976. He was indicted for murders and remains at large.
- Jim Gordon, a session musician who played drums with Eric Clapton band Derek and the Dominoes bludgeoned his mother with a hammer and then stabbed her to death with a butcher's knife. In May 1984 he was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.
- Susan Cabot, 1950s actress, was beaten to death in 1986 at her Hollywood home by her son Timothy Roman. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
- Brett Reider, a 15-year-old boy in Omaha, Nebraska, stabbed his mother to death during a dispute in 1993. He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced as an adult to 11-20 years. In 1996, his older sister, Alissa Reider made an HBO documentary: "Brett Killed Mom: a sister's diary", claiming both of them suffered years of constant verbal and physical abuse from their mother. Brett was released in 1999. Template:Fact
- Luke Woodham, Mississippi resident who killed his mother in June of 1997, and currently serving a life sentence at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
- Dipendra of Nepal (1971-2001) reportedly massacred much of his family at a royal dinner on June 1, 2001, including his mother Queen Aiswarya, father, brother, and sister.
- Dr. I. Kathleen Hagen, a prominent urologist, killed her mother and her father in August of 2000 and was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.
- Brittany Norris, a 14 year old living in Lemoore California, was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing her mother and mother's boyfriend in April of 2006.
- Yukio Yamaji, a 16 year old living in Japan, killed his mother in 2000. After his release, he raped and murdered a woman and her sister in 2005. He was sentenced to death.
- Erika di Nardo killed her mother and brother in 2001. See Novi Ligure Murder
- The Menendez Brothers were convicted during a highly publicized trial in July of 1996 for the shotgun killings of their parents in 1989.
- Sarah Marie Johnson (1987- ), an Idaho girl who was convicted of killing both parents on the morning of 2 September 2003.
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Matricides in fiction
- In Greek mythology, Orestes and Electra murdered their mother Clytemnestra to avenge her participation in the killing of their father, Agamemnon.
- In Babylonian legend, the supreme god Marduk slew his mother Tiamet by cutting her in half with a great sword.
- In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon killed his mother Eriphyle. She had coerced her husband Amphiaraus into participating in the Seven Against Thebes expedition, during which he was killed.
- The eponymous heroine is killed by her son in Arthur Schnitzler's 1928 novel, Therese.
- In the animated comedy Family Guy, Stewie Griffin attempts to murder his mother Lois countless times, to humorous effect. He thought he succeeded in the episode Stewie Kills Lois but it's revealed she is still alive.
- In the book and film Psycho, matricide is an underlying plot as the character Norman Bates murdered his mother and then developed dissociative identity disorder, pretending to be his mother to relieve the guilt of murdering her.
- In the Stephen King novel The Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead admits he is a matricide. Later books expound on the subject.
- In the NBC TV series Heroes, during the episode "The Hard Part", the character Sylar commits matricide accidentally when he tries to reunite with his mother and instead ends up fighting her.
- In South park, episode ´Tsss´, Cartman tries to kill his mother but changes his mind after thinking about it.
- In the one of the origins of Marvel heroine Elektra, her older brother Orestes commits matricide by hiring assassins to kill his unfaithful mother
- In the manga, Ludwig Kakumei, Blanche (Snow White) kills her mother by forcing her to wear heated iron shoes and proceed to dance in them through the ultimate torture until she died. Also, Lisette (Little Red Riding Hood) kills her mother, along with her father, in a rage due to a cruel trick played by Ludwig as a child.
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See also
- Patricide, the killing of one's father
- Fratricide, the killing of one's brother
- Sororicide, the killing of one's sister
- Filicide, the killing of one's child
- Uxoricide, the killing of one's wife
- Mariticide, the killing of one's husband
- Suicide, the killing of one's self
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