by Jacqueline Franchetti
Today, on the eve of marking nine months of being without my sweet baby Kyra, I find myself heartbroken and troubled. Over the last few months, I have been sharing parts of my story and Kyra’s story. I have been posting about familicides in the hopes of raising awareness of these horrific murders that are devastating our families and our communities. I have advocated change in the family court system to protect families and prioritize safety.
So it is with a broken heart and immense pain that I learned of Baby Natalee, whose nickname was Beta. She is the 11-month-old who was taken by her father in a murder-suicide that was streamed live. I will not post or share the story, as the father was clearly seeking our attention. I refuse to give him that satisfaction.
As the world mourns, I do ask that you send as much love as possible to Baby Natalee’s Mom, Jiranuch Trirat, and her family and friends. This mom was in an abusive relationship, wanted to leave, and now blames herself for what happened. She is NOT to blame.
To Jiranuch, I am soul to soul with you. And I cry with you. No baby and no parent should suffer this way.
Like Kyra, we must ensure that Baby Natalee is remembered for the she lived, and not the way she died. Sadly, I fear this incident may precipitate other live streams…and what saddens me the most is that even in something this horrific, the story fills our newsfeeds and evening news programs, and by the next day, it’s forgotten. We move on. We forget.
We MUST understand the devastating role domestic violence plays in our communities, and work together stop abusive parents before they kill more of our babies and children. Monsters are real. This is not the kind of world we were meant to be.