Lisa Humphrey

Lisa Humphrey, the grandmother charged with killing her 10-month-old grandson, Royality Sanders, has been convicted of killing before.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A woman who police say killed her 10-month-old grandson by spiking his bottle with morphine was convicted of shooting the infant's grandfather to death in the late 1980s, according to court documents obtained Friday by the Journal Sentinel.

Lisa Humphrey, 46, is charged in a complaint with killing her grandson, Royality Sanders, whose body was found April 28 on the mattress he had shared the night before with Humphrey and his 2-year-old sister. A warrant has been issued for her arrest, according to court documents.

A jury found Humphrey guilty in July 1989 of shooting her husband, Curtis Humphrey, in the back and in the throat as he tried to leave their apartment building in the spring of 1988, according to court records.

Humphrey, convicted of what was then called second-degree murder, faced up to 20 years in prison. Then-Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Skwierawski sentenced her to six years.

Queentesta Humphrey is Royality's 24-year-old mother and the daughter of Lisa and Curtis Humphrey. In other words, her mother has been convicted of killing her father and is charged with killing her son.

"I am near to having a nervous breakdown," Queentesta Humphrey said.

She said she and her siblings were placed in foster care after her father was killed.

A child when her mother was released, Queentesta Humphrey said she was the only one in her family that would have anything to do with her mother.

She said she has been taking care of her mother, who suffers from back pain, for the last several years.

"I can't understand why she would do this," she said.

Really?

Someone capable of killing your father would be capable of killing your baby.

I can't understand why Queentesta would leave her children in her mother's care.

...In the early evening of April 8, 1988, according to court records, Lisa Humphrey and her husband were arguing over a pair of shoes. Curtis Humphrey wanted to know where his wife had found the money to buy them. Lisa Humphrey told police he slapped her and wrestled with her on their bed.

Lisa Humphrey told police she called her husband's mother, who came to their apartment in the 700 block of W. Galena St.

As her mother-in-law was talking to her husband, Lisa Humphrey took a handgun from his car, according to a complaint.

She told police that she closed her eyes and opened fire on her husband as he was heading down a flight of stairs.

He climbed back up the stairs, went back into their apartment and collapsed on the floor, the complaint says.

Decades of deadly dysfunction.

Co-Sleeping Death, Milwaukee

Another child in Milwaukee dies. Co-sleeping is suspected as the cause of death.

It's a sad story.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A 3-month-old girl was found dead Sunday after spending the night sleeping beside her mother on a couch.

The 22-year-old mother, who is from Madison, was visiting friends and family in Milwaukee. The mother told investigators she had been drinking, according to a medical examiner's report released Monday.

Upon discovering her daughter was dead, according to the report, the mother attempted to cut her wrists.

According to the report, the mother cried out, "I killed my baby!

"I should be arrested. I did not hear her drowning. I did not wake up."

The medical examiner's office determined that the death was accidental, but it has not determined the cause of death.

If this was a co-sleeping death, there's an element of negligence. Of course, the mother didn't set out to kill her child. It was an accident, but due to taking an unreasonable risk.

Some accidents can be easily prevented. Had this baby been in a crib, she would be alive today.

According to the report:

The mother and child took a bus from Madison to Milwaukee and arrived Friday.

On Saturday, she visited a cousin living in the 1500 block of W. Mitchell St. There, according to the report, she split half a pint of Hennessy cognac. Around 9 p.m., she paid a cousin $10 to baby-sit the child and went to a bar.

When she returned, the infant was already asleep on a couch. The mother joined the child on the couch, which was covered with black faux-suede material, about 4 a.m. Sunday.

When she woke up, the child was facing the back of the couch, her face very near the cushion, according to the report.

The child was pronounced dead at the scene, where investigators found the baby's formula in the kitchen, beside a can of beer.

The mother told investigators that though she has a crib for her daughter, she has never put it together.

She said she believes it was safer to sleep with her baby.

I doubt the mother still believes it's safer to sleep with her baby rather than placing her daughter in a crib.

But because of her choices, her decisions to drink and then sleep on a couch with her little baby, this mother will be placing her infant daughter in a grave.