Books seized from public library
Posted in World, SocietyJanuary 17, 2007 at 1:55 pm (UTC)
Police used a warrant at the Portales Public Library to seize magic and witchcraft books that had been checked out by a woman who is charged in the Jan. 4 death of her 6-year-old son.
Teresa Gilman, 24, told police “the devil was in my son,” according to arrest affidavits.
Gilman’s 8-year-old daughter told police that on the morning her brother, Lorenzo Cabral, died, her mother poured salt in a circle around the boy’s body. Police found writing describing a “ritualistic type ceremony” in Gilman’s residence, an affidavit says.
“We were looking for material consistent with the writings we found in the home,” Portales Police Capt. Lonnie Berry said.
The Office of the Medical Investigator determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the boy’s head, with drowning a possible contributing factor.
Gilman is being held without bail at the Roosevelt County Detention Center. She has been charged with first-degree murder or, in the alternative, child abuse resulting in death, and four counts of child abuse related to her three other children.
The books collected by police on Thursday, were: “The Magic Power of White Witchcraft” by Gavin and Yvonne Frost; “Making the Gods Work for You: The Astrological Language of the Psyche,” by Caroline Casey; and “The Witch’s Book of Magical Ritual: Use the Forces of Wicca to Direct Your Psychic Powers,” by Gavin Frost.
Police also collected a book about Scientology.
“We believe the way some of the child abuse resulting in death happened can be related to stuff that’s in those books,” said District Attorney Matt Chandler.
The district attorney said that all of the books seized were books Gilman had checked out in the past.
Gilman’s grand jury appearance was postponed earlier this week while a mental competency evaluation on Gilman is performed. That process could take 60-90 days, Chandler said.
If Gilman is found mentally competent, the case will proceed to trial.
If she is found incompetent to stand trial, a judge could commit her to state mental health authorities if there is a finding through clear and convincing evidence that she committed the alleged crime, Chandler said.
Gilman’s three other children — an 11-month-old boy, a 3-year-old boy and the 8-year-old girl — are in the custody of Child Protective Services, Chandler said.
Source: Portales News-Tribune
January 17th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
This is awful because people blame the books or religion when clearing this lady had other problems.
January 17th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I am terribly grieved about this child’s abuse and death, however, this act was clearly done from an insane woman (or perhaps evil). There are cases of religious Christian women killing their children after reading the Bible, but the act remains the sole responsibility of the killer. We do not blame Christianity for these murders, neither should we blame other religious beliefs for this terrible event.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
This upsets me a lot. That poor boy. His mother is obviously insane. It has nothing to do with witchcraft at all. I really wish people would stop stereotyping us witches saying that we are a satan-worshipping people. If she was a true Pagan, she would have never believe in the “devil”…she must have had a lot of other problems. No self-respecting person would ever do this, especially to their own child.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Ridiculous, you cannot blame a book’s content, you can only blame the person who interprets the content. This woman is clearly insane.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Maybe we should voice our concerns and views to Mayor Orlando Ortega or Portales that the DA Matt Chandler is speaking out if turn.
Seems like they may need to be educated a wee bit.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I am horrified at this act, and she must have been a disturbed woman indeed. But I have no doubt that witchcraft nor scientology were involved. How ridiculous, to put blame on a religion like witchcraft that has no belief in the Devil when this woman obviously has severe mental issues. Her poor babies!
January 18th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
How do these so called educated people come to these daft conclusions? How can one blame a peaceful belief system to incite a horrible violent crime. I think even she knew witchcraft wouldn’t be her answer. She returned the books, then beat and drowned the child. Obviously she didn’t read that in any of the books! Come on officers! Connect the dots. This woman is insane, not pagan.
January 19th, 2007 at 1:04 am
I am disturbed and saddened by the death of this child and by any abuse the children suffered. It is my opinion that this woman has some severe issues. She killed her son and is using witchcraft and paganism as a kind of scapegoat due to the bad image some people associate with the religions. Or she is using the “devil” thing to ensure she has a good insanity defense. And once again, paganism is going to be seen in a negative light because some insane or evil person committed a crime and happened to have checked a few books on witchcraft out of the library. The police and people will now assume that it was “devil worship” when in reality it was a woman who is just plain crazy or an evil child abuser. It is pathetic and just plain wrong.
January 19th, 2007 at 3:57 am
This is mad! I have read two of those books. And while I’m not a fan of the Frosts on the whole, I can assure you there was nothing in those books that would suggest even for a second how this woman could determine that her child was The Devil , or give ritual perematers for killing him. That’s just not how wicca works. I don’t know a lot about scientology, but I don’t think it works that way, either. Andrea yates drowned her five children on the recommendation of an evangelical preacher, yet she’s in prison with no mention of the Bible in her trial. Leave the wiccans and scientologists out of this. It’s obvious that she has issues.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I agree with the comments that have come before mine, and as usual I have more of a question than an answer. How come they didn’t list which scientology book was seized? I mean now all the hate mongers who are looking for any excuse they can to hate pagans, have more books to put on their “banned books list”, because well these must have been the inspiration to kill and abuse that child. You know as well as I do, they aren’t going to READ them, just scan them for anything that could be potentially damning against pagans. How sad that the depravity of a lost mother can cause such ripples to a religion that she wasn’t neccessarily a part of. So what we’ve learned here today is that if we go to the local library and check out books on buddism and then we go on a convience store robbery spree, we can just blame it all on Budda? What if I check out books on the government? *sigh* You show me a pagan who actually believes in the devil (in the context that shes using it) and I’ve got some rather beautiful woodlands in the middle of the Sudan to sell you.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Actually, Scientology is a pretty messed up religion, I wouldn’t be surprised if it contributed to her messed-up thinking, especially if she’s dabbling with combining it with Scientology.
Wicca books don’t mesh with those two though, so she might have thought that witches were casting spells on her kid. Maybe he read Harry Potter or something.
January 20th, 2007 at 12:13 am
I had some time to think about all this, and it got me more and more upset so here are a list of the government personnel involved, if you would like to send angry emails about needless pagan bashing like I did.
The district attorney does not have a public and available email address.
Representative: Patricia A. Lundstrom
District: 9
County(s): McKinley & San Juan
Representative Since: 2001
Party: Democrat
Occupation: Dir/NM Council of Gvnmnt
Address: 3406 Bluehill Avenue
Gallup, NM 87301
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4435
Office Phone: 722-4327
Home Phone:
E-mail: plundstrom@nwnmcog.com
Senator: Steve Komadina
District: 9
County(s): Sandoval
Senator Since: 2001
Party: Republican
Occupation: Physician
Address: Box 2085
Corrales, NM 87048
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4377
Office Phone: 893-2840
Home Phone: 898-0864
E-mail: komadina@stevekomadina.com
Governor Bill Richardson
Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501
email:
http://www.governor.state.nm.us/emailchoice.php?mm=6
(this is a link to email him, his address is not available, per se)
Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office
Curry and Roosevelt Counties. (Matt Chandler)
Street Address / Mailing Address
District Attorney
Roosevelt County Courthouse - Suite B1
Portales, New Mexico 88130
Telephone: (505)356-4434
Fax: (505)356-4435
http://www.da.state.nm.us/districts/ninth.htm
January 21st, 2007 at 7:06 am
I am not fond of Scientology in and of itself…some of their principles, though well-intentioned, are not realistic (whoever heard of a truly silent birth anyway??? Especially without an epidural!)
It is generally not advisable to practice Witchcraft, Druidry or anything else of that nature, when one is already mentally crackers. Though, those who ARE crackers generally don’t THINK they are.
But it’s twice as nuts for perfectly sane and sober people to buy into this lady’s crap, especially when they read her rap sheet. Something is seriously askew, and I am sure that’s an understatement.
In this instance, I would much rather be dealing with atheists than people who choose to believe an insane and murderous woman’s claptrap.