Envy or desperation?
By Carol Daniel
Columnists
“What happened to this place?”
My oldest son asked me that question as we drove out of East St. Louis after I had given a speech last summer. It was just one block near some railroad tracks, but it had enough of a visual impact to make him think that something wasn’t right.
I won’t rehash the history of what brought us to this point in time, but one can’t help but wonder if the conditions that exist in East St. Louis could have contributed to the depravity that led a young woman to cut open Jimella Tunstall’s womb, steal her baby and drown her three little children.
I don’t think this crime is completely wrapped up in the poverty, overgrown weeds and dilapidated homes that are a short lifespan from being condemned. However, the environment of sex too soon, hopelessness, unemployment, drugs and crime-for-lack-of-anything-better-to-do may serve as the shaky foundation from which Tiffany Hall hatched her sinister plan.
While one state police officer described parts of East St. Louis as the “wild, wild West,” infant kidnappings remain a rare crime. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that, since 1983, 244 infants have been kidnapped. As a parent, that’s still too many for my heart to take, but at least experts think they know why a woman would do such a thing.
A center spokesman told me that they believe the woman involved in this type of crime is likely in a fragile relationship and trying to hold on to that man. Sounds common enough, doesn’t it?
Surely some of you can say that, once upon a time, you were dating someone or married to someone you didn’t want to let go of. But you and I would never have gone so far as to lie about being pregnant, much less kill someone to steal their infant. So is it evil or mental illness? Envy or desperation?
We may never know what drove Tiffany Hall so far. A psychological evaluation has been ordered for Hall by the judge. If she is mentally disturbed, I hope she gets the help she needs in a secure facility. If she’s not, let justice have its way in the memory of five lives snatched away by someone who may have started it all because she wanted to hold on to a man.
And isn’t that man a victim here as well? I have a suspicion that more women lie about being pregnant than we will ever know and that even some men purposely get a woman pregnant as a sort of stalker-move to try to keep her in his life.
But this crime can cause someone to turn away from a life of lies. Knowing that a 24-year-old woman drowned three children and stuffed their little bodies into a washer and dryer just might drive someone to say, “That’s it, I’m not going to live like this anymore!” Seeing that mugshot of Tiffany Hall staring into space – as if she just now realizes what she has done and the price she’ll have to pay – might stop someone from equally self-destructive behavior that is leading them into quicksand.
Something else is happening, as well. People are being moved to help, reaching out to each other, talking about what needs to happen to make sure THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN AGAIN.