A Texas woman was arrested Friday (local time) and charged with murder after her two children were found dead in a car that was set on fire in San Antonio.
NBC News on Saturday identified the woman as Marlene Vidal, 34, of Edinburgh, Texas. She was arrested after the bodies of her children, aged five and seven, were discovered in a vehicle engulfed in flames in a warehouse parking lot, police said.
Read also | Texas man charged with attempted murder of Sam Altman
San Antonio Deputy Police Chief Jesus Salame said at a news conference that a passerby was walking his dog when he called police to report the vehicle on fire. Salame added that the accused allegedly told a passerby that she had already contacted the police, although it is unclear if this claim is true.
After firefighters extinguished the fire, they discovered the bodies of Vidal’s two children. However, it remains unclear whether they died before or after the car was set on fire. The local medical examiner is still investigating the cause of death.
According to Salame, surveillance video and statements Vidal made to investigators indicate she is solely responsible for the deaths of the two children.
Officials have not yet determined a motive, though Salame said there are indications that mental health issues may have played a role.
“I know this will have a profound effect on our community,” he said. “People will naturally want to know why it happened, but in cases like this, that can be the most difficult question.”
Read also | Texas Horror – Woman killed in ‘carjacking,’ report reveals
Cases of filicide in the US
Citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CNN reports that nearly 500 people are arrested each year in the United States for filicide, which is the legal term for when a parent kills their child.
Earlier in April, a former soldier in Louisiana killed eight children, seven of them his own, in what was described as the deadliest mass shooting in two years. Shamar Elkins, a 31-year-old father and former soldier, reportedly suffered from mental health issues. According to The New York Times, the woman who raised him but was not his biological mother said he tried to take his own life in February.
According to Elkins’ family members, he was reportedly struggling when he and his wife were divorcing. He had previously stayed at a local VA hospital for treatment related to mental health issues.
Read also | Louisiana Mass Shooting: Early Warning in Shooter’s FB Post – Latest Update
A 2014 study examining 32 years of violent arrest data found that between 1976 and 2007, the majority of victims were children between the ages of one and six.
The analysis also showed that the majority of perpetrators and victims were white, followed by blacks as the next most common group. He further found that about 90 percent of the victims were the biological children of the perpetrators. Research has also shown that mothers and fathers commit filicide at very similar rates.
Motives in filicide cases
Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve University, published a landmark study in 1969 that proposed five categories to explain the motivations behind filicide.
According to Resnick’s study, the most common motives include:
Deadly torture: cases of abuse or neglect
Unwanted child: a situation where parents consider the child a burden
Marital Revenge: rare cases involving divorce or custody disputes
Altruistic Filicide: when a parent believes they are acting out of “love” or protection
Acute psychosis: cases where the parent experiences hallucinations or severe mental illness
Read also | Louisiana Mass Shooting: Forensic Psychiatrists Reveal Why Parents Kill
The Texas incident adds to a pattern of rare but recurring filicides in the United States, where investigators often point to mental health concerns and domestic instability, though definitive motives remain difficult to ascertain.
