Susan Eubanks in CA:An update on the gal who massacred her four sons

[Joe1orbit]

Hello,

This is it, folks. My FINAL post prior to setting off on my trip. And what
better way to end than with an update on one of the most impressive and
interesting massacres of the entire month. I am speaking of couse of Susan
Eubanks, and her most impressive quadruple homicide where she massacred all
four of her sons.

So, here you go. Enjoy. I will print out this final post, and take it with me
on my trip, to savor rereading it over the next few days.

This is Joe1orbit, signing off and going clear, for a few days.

Take care, JOE

The following appears courtesy of the 10/30/97 online edition of The San
Diego Union-Tribune newspaper:

Mother arraigned in hospital

Sister says she reported possible abuse of four slain boys

By Kelly Thornton Greg Moran and J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

October 30, 1997

Susan Eubanks' treatment of her sons and nephew sounded so bizarre and abusive
that her own sister said she complained to San Diego County authorities
repeatedly in the year before four of the boys were shot to death.

"They didn't do a damn thing," said Michele Smith, who recalled phoning the
county at least four times from her home in Pearland, Texas. "If Child
Protective Services . . . had listened to my calls, my sister wouldn't be in
the hospital on murder charges and I would still have four nephews."

Prosecutors and investigators say Eubanks shot herself in the stomach Sunday
night after shooting her four sons -- Matthew, 4; Brigham, 6; Austin, 7; and
Brandon Armstrong, 14 -- at close range in the family's San Marcos home. She
even paused to reload her gun, they said. Eubanks' 5-year-old nephew, Aaron,
was found sitting in a bedroom, unharmed.

A Child Services Bureau spokeswoman said yesterday that state law forbids
officials from discussing cases. "I can't even disclose if there is or ever
was a case, which is very frustrating," said Patti Rahiser.

While family members continued to wrestle with rage over their loss, Eubanks'
prosecution began and more details unfolded about her life and her activities
in the days and years preceding the killings.

 In a rare bedside arraignment at Palomar Medical Center, where she once
worked, Eubanks, 33, pleaded not guilty to four murder charges. Prosecutors
also filed the special circumstance of multiple murder, which means Eubanks
could face either death or life in prison without parole if she's convicted.

A longtime friend of Eubanks' boyfriend said Eubanks told her about two weeks
ago that she had bought some bullets and that one might be intended for the
boyfriend.

"Then she made little (7-year-old) Austin confirm it," said Debbie McNeil. "He
said they had bought bullets. Poor little guy, he couldn't have known one of
the bullets had his name written on it."

 In Eubanks' 1988 divorce from John C. Armstrong, her first husband and the
father of her eldest child, Armstrong alleged that she abused Brandon. He
claimed she "smacked" the boy when he was about 3-1/2 years old, causing a
bruise bad enough that they kept the child out of public view for a few days,
in fear of being reported for child abuse.

Michele Smith, 39, said she and her sister shared a close relationship, but she
never told Eubanks she called the Children's Services Bureau, formerly Child
Protective Services.

"I didn't make anonymous calls. I gave my name and phone number and told them I
would stand up against her in court if I had to . . . I had no animosity
toward my sister. I wanted the babies away so that she could get help. I
didn't want her to lose her children forever."

In each case, Smith said she was told an investigator would "look into it," but
she said she was never contacted again. "I hold them partially responsible"
for what happened, she said.

When the bureau receives a call, an investigator evaluates the information and
determines whether a child is in imminent danger, Rahiser said. The response
time could be two hours, 10 days, or never.

"Many calls we would assess as not needing our intervention," Rahiser said.
"It's inappropriate to go out on every single call we get."

Rahiser acknowledged that officials have checked records regarding the slain
boys. "We would check records of all children named in the media," she said.

'Downhill spiral'

Smith, who frequently chatted by phone with her sister, including a brief
conversation on the day of the shootings, said Eubanks had started "a downhill
spiral" over the past three years. Recently, it included marital problems,
boyfriends, alcohol and prescription drug abuse.

Smith became particularly concerned about her sister's parenting after Eubanks
described three incidents to her. The first was about a year ago, when Eubanks
became enraged at her then-4-year-old nephew.

Eubanks, who took in the child three years ago when her brother died of a drug
overdose, had forbidden him to use the bathroom after he went to bed, Smith
said.

Eubanks soon discovered that the child, apparently terrified of punishment, had
removed soiled diapers and hidden them. While cleaning the mess, Eubanks
smeared feces on the child's face and in his mouth, Smith said.

"I lost it when she told me that," Smith said. "She was stupid enough to think
I would think it was funny or cute. Then she said she was just joking, and
then she said, 'It's none of your business how I raise my children.' "

Smith said she called the authorities.

On another occasion, Eubanks told Smith she attached bells to Aaron when he
went to bed so that she could hear him if he got up for something to eat. She
was adamant that the child not disobey her, Smith said.

"I disagreed with that. It wasn't like he was a cow or anything," she said.

In yet another instance, Eubanks shouted at Brandon while the sisters were
talking on the phone and ordered him to scrub the floor with ammonia and
bleach. When Smith warned that such a concoction is toxic, Eubanks replied,
"Well if it kills the little bastard, then so what?"

"At the time, I didn't think she meant it," Smith said.

The most recent call to authorities was made in July, when Smith said Eubanks
told her investigators were called to Aaron's school because he had bruises
all over his body. Eubanks said Aaron had blamed her.

"Susie says he lied," Smith said. "But I called them up and asked them to
please, really, really check this out. They told me they'd investigate it."

Still, Eubanks often spoke lovingly of the boys and bragged about their
accomplishments.

"The person that did what she did was not the same person I know," Smith said.
"I loved her. I still love her. I'll never stop loving her. I want people to
know she did love them."

There were other apparent signs that went unheeded. Smith said Eubanks
threatened suicide two weeks ago. And her boyfriend, Rene Dobson, told Smith
this week that Eubanks had threatened to kill herself and her children if he
left her.

Dobson did leave, hours before the killings, enlisting the help of sheriff's
deputies in retrieving his belongings from the house on South Twin Oaks Valley
Road.

It was a loss for Eubanks, one of many.

At age 8, her mother died in a house fire. Her father had trouble caring for
four children, so at 13, Eubanks moved in with Smith and her husband. When she
was 18, Eubanks' father died of cancer.

Eubanks struggled with alcohol abuse and often was glassy-eyed from
prescription painkillers, her sister said. In recent years she had severe mood
swings and "different guys running in and out of her life so quickly," Smith
said.

Yesterday, as medical staff, attorneys, a judge, security and media surrounded
her, Eubanks lay in a hospital bed with tubes snaking around her body. The low
moan of the respirator marked her breathing. A white towel covered her
forehead above shoulder-length blond hair.

Because of the ventilator she did not speak during the three-minute proceeding
charging her with murder, but she was awake. Her attorney, Vince Garcia, said
afterward that Eubanks was aware of what was transpiring.

Garcia said he and attorney William Rafael met with Eubanks before the
arraignment. When told of the charges, Eubanks' reaction was "muted," he said.
"She had very little reaction, because she clearly was medicated."

Turbulent days

Nothing could dull the pain of family members as they discussed funeral
arrangements. Even acquaintances who crossed paths with Eubanks in recent
weeks were haunted by the boys' faces.

McNeil, the longtime friend of Dobson, recalled that Eubanks came into the Star
Builder's Ace Hardware Store on Grand Avenue in San Marcos two weeks ago to
purchase a dead-bolt lock. Eubanks and McNeil, who works in the store, began
to talk.

"She had all the little kids in there with her and she was all agitated,"
McNeil said. "She was using real strong language and talking about how Rene
had broken down her front door and that's why she needed the lock."

McNeil said that when they and the children went out to the parking lot, "She
told me she had gone to Duncan's (Duncan's Gunworks, also on Grand Avenue) and
bought some bullets. She was going on about how she had a .357 and she told me
to tell Rene when I saw him that one of the bullets could have his name on it.

"Then she made little (7-year-old) Austin confirm it . . . Poor little guy, he
couldn't have known one of the bullets had his name written on it."

Homicide detectives went to Duncan's yesterday but none of the employees could
remember Eubanks purchasing bullets, one employee said.

McNeil said she heard from patrons of the North Bar, where Eubanks and Dobson
spent time, that Eubanks had been in the pub for a lengthy period on Friday
night while all four children were in her van in the parking lot.

"They would come to the door every now and then asking for something to drink,"
she said.

"It's too bad she didn't shoot herself in the head first. But I'm kind of glad
she chickened out. Now she has to live with what she's done."

Two divorces

At the time the children were killed, Eubanks was going through a stormy
divorce from Eric Eubanks, her husband of seven years and father of the three
youngest boys. Court records indicate a tempestuous marriage and divorce nine
years earlier from Eubanks' first husband, Armstrong.

In one document in the thick file, Armstrong alleged Eubanks was physically and
verbally abusive to Brandon, and claimed she "smacked" him when he was about
3-1/2 years old, causing the bad bruise.

Eubanks retorted in court papers that there was no bruise, and that she simply
scratched the boy with her ring when she slapped him for talking back. She
said that after that incident she stopped physically disciplining the child.

Armstrong also said in a document that Eubanks threatened once to shoot him
with a loaded gun she carried in her purse. He made similar threats to her,
the file indicates.

Armstrong referred several times to his wife's "very bad temper" and her heavy
drinking.

In one document, he wrote, "I am certain that (Eubanks) will become very angry when she learns of (this) action. When respondent becomes angry, she takes it out on her son."