Why Do Fathers Turn On Their Families?: Piano Teacher Pablo Amador Killed Wife Maria Amador, Their Kids And Himself
26 February 2009, 10:58 AM. By Alex Alvarez
The case of a Miami piano teacher Pablo Amador, by all accounts a loving father and husband who mysteriously killed his family and himself, has us wondering what it is that propels parents - particularly fathers - to murder their children and spouse.
Neighbors, many of whom had children who were taught piano by the Cuban-born composer, described Pablo Amador as “a marvelous person and a tremendous professor” who was attentive to his family, active in his community and committed to his faith. They profess to not understanding why he would suddenly turn around and kill his wife, Maria, - the director of education for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis - and two teenage daughters before shooting himself. Police were notified of the attacks by his teen son, who managed to escape the house without injury at 5:58 a.m. So… “Why?”
According to statistics gathered by the Department of Justice, more than half of infanticide cases are committed by mothers, but cases in which an entire family is murdered by a parent are overwhelmingly committed by fathers. According to various research on and books about this topic, the reasons that father wipe out their families and themselves can be placed into two main categories: Powerlessness, or revenge.
In many of these instances, the father either cannot adequately deal with a profound life change such as the loss of a job or an impending divorce and find themselves in a mental space where taking out one’s entire family seems like the best solution. At times, the father considers killing himself only, but decides that he cannot leave the family without a provider and takes them all with him.
Powerlessness can also play out in the role of an abusive parent or either takes discipline too far or wants to silence, permanently, those who have witnessed the instances of abuse.
Sometimes, a disgruntled father and estranged husband will kill his family because he cannot see them moving on and finding happiness without him, and then kills himself wither out of guilt or so as not to get caught. We saw a case of this in the horrible case of Bruce Pardo, who dressed up as Santa Claus to kill his ex-wife’s entire family at their Christmas party.
At the core of all these cases are men who are disturbed, sure, but is part of the reason that this might be due to the fact that men just aren’t taught how to cope? What do you guys think?
Police: Miami piano teacher kills kids, wife, self [AP]
Fathers Who Kill [truTV]
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Most men don’t kill their families (and then themselves) in response to feelings of powerlessness or for revenge. Have they been taught to cope?
This article isn’t looking at all men, it’s placing a microscope on the select few who do kill their families and then themselves. If men are overwhelmingly responsible for a specific type of murder and research indicates that it is because they feel powerless, then it’s useful, if not necessary, for society to try and figure out why this might be so that it can be prevented in the future.
Probably jealously, “If I kill myself, my wife will re-marry, suck another dude off, and my daughter too!” Kills family.
@ Alex A (I can’t reply so I’m doing it this way)
There is research that shows a correlation between feelings of powerlessness and/or desire for revenge in men and the sort of homicide/suicide described above. This does not however necessarily imply a causal connection. eg:
The S&P 500 has been positive more often than negative (86 percent versus 63 percent of the time) with above-average market performance in the Super Bowl year (NFC wins, +16.4 percent vs. AFC wins, +7.1 percent).
You’re right, it isn’t necessarily causal. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still worth looking into possible - and likely - factors as to why it is that some men ultimately feel that this is their best or only option.
I believe there is which strongly suggests that anger management therapy works to decrease the likelyhood of non homicidal outbreaks in certainj types of male abusers - maybe this is a form of teaching men to cope. How one would go about finding out if this could impact the behavior of potential killers is another question.
I believe there is data.