On
October 26, 1997, Susan
Eubanks of
San
Marcos California shot
her four sons, ranging in age from 4 – 14, in the head. She turned
the gun on herself, shooting herself in the stomach. Her 5-year-old
nephew remained in the house, unharmed.
Susan
spent the day drinking and taking valium with her boyfriend. They
fought and she slashed 2 tires on his car. Dodson
gathered
his possession and as he was leaving Eric
Eubanks showed
up. They left together in Eric’s car. Dodson told Eubanks as they
were driving that Susan had said she was going to shoot the boys and
herself. They went to the North
Bar,
where they spent several hours.
Th
evening at the bar, Eric Eubanks received a page, alerting him to a
voice-mail message. He listened to it, and called 911. His estranged
wife had recorded two words on his telephone answering machine: “Say
goodbye.”
Brandon was shot in the living room as he watched TV; the others were
in their bedroom, on a bunk bed, playing
Nintendo.
Five
days after the murders, Susan was charged with four counts of first
degree murder. During her trial there were allegations of child abuse
and talk of revenge against her ex-husband prior to the murders.
After being convicted of four counts of first degree murder, Susan
Eubanks was
sentenced to the death penalty. At her sentencing a month later, she
said she loved her children but felt they would be better off dead.
She said she killed her boys as a final act of love in what was an
attempted murder-suicide. Factors that influenced her actions, she
said at the sentencing, included alcoholic parents, her depression
and poor mental-health treatment.
She
was sent to Central
California’s Women’s facility
where she awaits her execution on death row Markers in the local
cemetery are organized with. A Eubanks” is on the left, “B
Eubanks” in the middle, then “M Eubanks.” Austin was
7, Brigham,
6, and Matthew,
4. Their half brother, Brandon
Armstrong,
14, also killed by their mother, is buried in Texas and
memorialized with a headstone there.The house where the murders
happened was torched by firefighters in a training exercise.
Eric
Eubanks has never publicly spoken about the slayings. He wasn't in
the courtroom when the jury read the verdict at the 1999 trial of the
boys’ mother, Susan
Dianne Eubanks.
Deady Women Featuring Susan Eubanks story:
Much as been said about Susan by many who did not know her. She has been called a monster by pseudo-journalists of tabloid sensationalism. But, I knew Susan Eubanks in my capacity as her vocational education counselor. She was not a monster. Susan was confused, depressed, and felt terribly alone, but she was not a monster. Her act was unfathomable to most people. It shocked me and broke my heart. But Susan planned out what she would do that day. First, send her children to heaven where they would have a better life than the one they were living, then take her own life. It is a miracle that she survived her self-inflicted wound. She told me that surviving that gun shot was the greatest shock of her life. What Susan did was horrible, yes, but Susan was not the monster she has been made out to be. I hate to see in print that she was vicious and vindictive when I know that simply is not true.
ReplyDeleteBrandon was a friend of mine in High school, we rode the bus together, we had classes together. As a parent now of a daughter not much older than he was when she murdered him. She is a monster.
ReplyDelete