A Florida woman, facing family and financial stress, is charged with attempted murder after allegedly orchestrating a suicide pact with her husband and adult son, who has Asperger’s syndrome.
All three individuals survived the incident, which involved medication and the bladed instrument, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Barbara Bates, 59, allegedly confessed to planning the “homicide of her family over a period of months,” driven by the stress of being on the brink of eviction and dealing with her son’s medical ailments. Police say she obtained sleeping pills and alcohol, planned a final meal, and then used a blade to cut the throats of her 64-year-old husband, Neil Bates, and their son after distributing the medication.
The probable cause statement describes a chaotic scene in which the plan unfolded after the family watched a horror movie. Neil Bates allegedly initiated the self-harm with a box cutter, but Barbara Bates claimed she had to deepen the cuts on her husband’s throat before moving to stab her son in the neck. She allegedly waited 30 to 40 minutes before finally cutting her own wrists.
The three were rushed to a hospital after Barbara Bates called 911, reportedly voicing her “displeasure” that law enforcement responded so quickly, preventing the plan from being completed.
Neil Bates, who reportedly changed his account several times, initially tried to tell police that their disabled son came up with the idea for the pact. The son, however, recounted becoming nervous after feeling his father’s blood and stated he panicked, no longer wanting to participate after his mother cut his throat.
Doctors expect all three to recover. Barbara Bates faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated child abuse, while Neil Bates is charged with criminal attempt to commit a life felony and aggravated abuse of a disabled adult. Both are being held without bond.
Digging Deeper: What details from the affidavit reveal
- Bates attempted to acquire a firearm for the plan on October 16, making a $38 down payment on a semi-automatic pistol but was deterred by a waiting period and background checks.
- On November 3, she purchased a final family meal of steak and a large 96-count bottle of sleeping pills.
- After watching the horror movie, The Long Walk, Bates distributed a handful of sleeping pills to her son, 64-year-old Neil Bates drank alcohol, and Barbara consumed the remainder of the pills and her own Trazodone.
- Bates confessed that after her husband used a box cutter to cut his neck, she “did not believe the cut was deep enough,” so she retrieved the blade to deepen the wound and cut two parallel lacerations on his right arm “to increase the flow to avoid clotting.”
- She then stabbed her developmentally challenged son’s neck near his left ear, lacerating his throat “downward to the larynx.”
- Barbara Bates admitted to waiting for over 40 minutes before calling 911 to “guarantee that they would not be resuscitated by first responders,” and to ensure her dog was cared for.
READ: “Pillowcase Rapist” Suspect Convicted In Second 1980s Florida Attack
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