We all want the best for our children: A safe and secure home, opportunities to excel in school, meaningful relationships with peers and above all, happiness. And if some jerk was dancing with your son's girlfriend at a party, you would track him down with your car and pin him up against a wall until he stopped breathing, too, wouldn't you?
No, you wouldn't (right?).
That would be taking the mama bear role way too far. But that is exactly what police say 33-year-old Streamwood mother Timera Branch allegedly did (The Grio). Now she remains in custody on a $1 million bond, facing first-degree murder charges that could put her away for at least 20 years.
John Keyes, the deceased Elgin teen, reportedly was dancing with the girlfriend of Branch's 16-year-old son at a party when her son (unnamed in the article) showed up and shoved Keyes, which I suppose is understandable. Then Keyes responded with a punch to the face, not the best course of action but what one might expect with two hormone-addled teenage boys.
What happened next was, of course, unacceptable by any stretch of the imagination. Branch allegedly hunted Keyes down the next afternoon and upon finding him, cornered the youth against a wall, pinning him until he became unconscious. He died at a hospital a short time later.
So now this 16-year-old boy has to live with the conflicted feelings for a mother who may have murdered a young man in cold blood just to defend his honor, or whatever.
- Click here for a directory of Chicago criminal defense lawyers
- Illinois Criminal Code, first-degree murder
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