Maybe, by the time you read this, someone may have discovered a possible explanation. Drug-induced psychosis. Alcohol-triggered mania. One of the multitude of terrors to which the fragile human mind is susceptible.
But, as of this writing, the psychiatrists were still trying to find some hint as to what anomaly in the brain of Carlos Campos Jr. led him to slaughter his parents. And a baby.
Granted, I have seen only the one photo, I have not seen the man in person, but examining his mug shot, I see someone who looks lost. In those eyes, I see neither rage nor rampant evil. I see bewilderment. As if Campos is as confused as the rest of us who have been trying to come to emotional terms with the horrific murders in Harrison.
Please don’t misunderstand; I am not defending Campos. I have no sympathy for this person. It is just that one is desperate to seek explanations, even for the inexplicable. Perhaps, especially for the inexplicable.
Some reports say the homicides were triggered by an argument Campos had with his father. It would not be the first time lethal violence began with something relatively simple.
But did he have an argument with the baby? A 3-year-old is a baby.
It is thought that the child may have been killed last. She was found in her crib. Had she heard the screams of her grandmother, or had she — pray it was so — been sound asleep? Did the knife pierce her heart before she even awoke?
It helps, a little bit, to think, to hope, that she died quickly, oblivious to the bestial brutality.
What could possibly possess a man to stand over a baby, to gaze at this being of absolute innocence, and to then butcher her?
In today’s world, violence is all around us. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear of some murder, some frightening indication that, to some members of society, human life has lost all value.
But, always, we look for the explanation.
People cannot simply be that brutal, that evil, can they?
Last week, horror visited Harrison. In a typical Harrison house on a typical Harrison street, one that was daily filled with the laughter of children.
Parents are holding their children closer now, keeping those precious lives safe in the arms of love.
And all of us are looking for the answers, for the explanation, for the reason. Because, if we find a reason, as unjustifiable as it might be, perhaps something like this will never happen again.
But, deep inside, we know it will happen. Somewhere, some time.
Sometimes, although there are diagnoses, there are just no answers.
—Karen Zautyk
