Mom in Michigan confesses to smothering son 53 years ago By: Nina Bharadwaj, 2nd period

     Janice Summerfield, 77, who currently lives in a nursing home in Kalamazoo has recently confessed to a shocking crime: 53 years ago, she smothered her 8-month-old, William Earl Summerfield III. The confession was made while she was in an interview with her daughter Paula Gastian, 54, a reporter, and a detective. She stated "I killed that baby. My mind wasn't right. I killed that baby. I didn't know what I was doing." After smothering the infant, Summerfield placed the baby in bed with her son, Phil Summerfield, when he was 4-years-old at the time. She then blamed the her son's death on him. Now 58-yeaas-old, he stated that all of these years, he had believed that the death was his fault.
     A homicide investigation has just been opened by the Calhoun County Sheriff Department, and the infant's casket was removed from a cemetery. The results of an autopsy are being awaited, so one can determine the cause of the son's death. The boy died on May 29, 1961 in Tekonsha, and the cause at the time was stated to be anoxia.
      Gastian has publicly opened up to her life as a child. Her mother often neglected them, and her father, now 86, has also been placed in prison and was missing most of her childhood life. This investigation has brought up a new question in which Gastian believes that her mother may have also murdered her twin sisters. However, Gastian doesn't want her mother to go to prison. She just wants her "to be somewhere for what she has done."
This article is really frightening, considering the situation. It really brings up a lot of questions regarding the numerous amount of crimes in which this type of incident has taken place. All too often, people are not caught for performing illicit crimes. Officials can continue to investigate certain crimes all they want, but when an extreme amount of them take place daily, too many people will not get caught. This case is just another instance in which the justice system has failed. For people like Susan Mellen who were wrongfully locked up for so many years and have had so much of their daily lives taken up in prison, this is extremely unfair. Janice Summerfield should have been punished as soon as the crime was committed. However, I do not believe things like this will ever stop because as long as people continue to be morally corrupt, innumerable crimes will continue.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/23/michigan-mom-confesses-to-killing-her-infant-son-53-years-ago/?intcmp=trending