The Milkwaukee, Wisconsin Fire Department was called to an apartment building on the morning of September 28th due to a report of smoke. Upon breaking into the apartment, firefighters noticed smoke emerging from the stove as well as from clothing in the bathtub. To their horror, they also found a dead child. It was discovered that the child's body had been started on fire with some type of substance used to spread fire.
An autopsy of the child, Antonio Di Stasio, reported that a plastic bag had been put on his head and seven belts had been used to secure his hands behind his back. It was concluded that the four-year-old child's death was a homicide.
Witness reports of the child's mother yelling at him the day before he died and of a woman jumping from an apartment windowsill on the 28th, made her suspicious to law enforcement. A witness stated hearing Antonio yell "Please, Mommy. Stop! I won't do it again." Along with the mother yelling, "Shut up." Antonio's mother, Amelia Di Stasio was not home when the firefighters arrived, but was arrested later that day.
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Questions:
1. If you lived in the same apartment and heard yelling between the mother and her son, how would you have handled the situation?
If I lived in the same apartment and heard that yelling conversation between the mother and son, I would have reported it to the police. Hearing what Antonio said would have caused me to worry about his safety to the point where I would feel the need to alert the authorities.
2. If you were one of the firefighters who discovered Antonio, what would your reaction have been?
I would have been horrified at the sight of a four-year-old child burnt to death. I would feel extremely upset and angry that the fire wasn't an accident.
Replies
Very well done overall! I think you could have replied a few more times.
If I lived in the same apartment and heard (like abusive/attacking/abnormal) yelling between a mother and her son, I would call the police. I would defiantly worry about the safety of the child. If I would have been one of the firefighters who found Antonio, I would have been completely devastated. I would be determined to find the person who committed this horrific crime.
If i was in that apartment I would have called the police automatically. That is a domestic disturbance and would be better handled by professionals than anyone else. If i were that fire fighter I would have broken down at the sight of of the small child burnt to death.
Belonging to a family of four children, I can tell you that yelling happens often. Unless I suspected legitimately serious abuse, those issues are not my business. Finding that burnt-to-death child obviously would have been horrifying and upsetting. This incident is so perplexing. What could possibly drive a person, especially the child's mother, to do such a thing?
i would be very concerned for the kids safety. and would have called the cops and tried to get in there. i would have been horrified at the sight something that brutel and would be very mad at the who ever did thin.
If I knew it was this bad then I would call the police. I would tell them all the comments and yelling I heard and how many times it happens a day typically. If I was a firefighter, I would be shocked, horrified and devastated that someone could do this to their own son. I would be very angry at the mom who did this. I don't understand why someone would do this ever.
I don't think I would have done anything, because you don't know what is going on, it could have just been the son just got in trouble, but if I knew what was going on I would have called the police. I would have been shocked and would feel horrible for the rest of the family
1. If I lived in that apartment building and knew that the child was special, or a child at all, and I heard the yelling I would go over and confront the mother if I heard her continuity yelling at her child. If she wouldn't listen to reasoning, I would probably call the police.
If I heard yelling between the mother and son, I would try to call the cops or the owner of the complex right away to get help. When they would head there I would knock on the door and try to cause a distraction to waste time. I would have been shocked and horrified of the sight of the child. I would also be mad at the mom for her actions, I would probably cry about it later.
I agree that the cops would need to be called in this type of situation. It's interesting that you would head over there and try to cause a distraction to waste time. I never thought about that, but it is a good idea!
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