A CONVICTED killer has claimed she drowned her 11-year-old son in a bathtub because she believed he was a demon.
Latina Marie Oates, 36, was found guilty of capital murder for the death of her son Joshua Oates and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday.
2
2
In March 2020, the woman drove the boy and his two brothers from their home in Ohio to Mississippi without telling their father, Law & Order reported.
Throughout the trial, Latina's attorneys argued that she was in the midst of a psychotic break at the time of the killing.
The mother told Robert Storer, a mental health professional, that she believed her weapon, an unremarkable piece of metal, was an "ancient dagger."
After smoking in her car, she went back into the hotel room where she and the boys were staying in Laurel, Mississippi – about 90 miles southeast of Jackson – and filled up the tub.
READ MORE NEWS
Latina then threw a used piece of toilet paper in to the tub, which she said turned its contents into "holy water."
She then began attacking Joshua as he laid on a bed in the hotel room.
"(His) eyes were red, he was growling, he was not human anymore," the killer told Storer.
Latina believed the fact that her rosary was broken in the process meant there was a "demon" in the room.
Most read in The US Sun
She went on to drown Joshua in the bathtub.
The boy's brothers heard him ask "Why are you doing this?" during the melee.
Latina and the two surviving boys were spotted leaving the Hampton Inn on March 17, 2020.
After Joshua's body was found in the hotel room, a warrant was issued for the mother's arrest.
She was taken into custody in New Orleans shortly thereafter.
Joshua's father testified that she went to the city there because famous Vodou practitioner Marie Laveau lived there in the 1800s.
