Pure Evil

Most crimes against children are obviously pretty abhorrent. It seems like lately there have a number of mothers that have killed or injured their children in the news. While completely unacceptable, these cases are almost always the result of some sort of mental illness or extreme depression - it clearly doesn't make it less horrible but it does sort of rationalize the maliciousness to me a bit.

But this case is one of a pure evil. Brian Schellenberger (a 42 year old computer/analyst for SAS - which is one or the reasons this case caught my eye - similar demographic to me!) pleaded guilty on Thursday for several felonies including making homemade sex videos with children, trading child sex videos and porn online, and plotting to have his wife killed. He was plotting to have wife killed apparently to keep her away from finding out about his kiddy porn dealings.

There is no mental depression or disease breakdown here - at least it certainly doesn't look like it. What capped it for me was his desire to kill his wife. Everything here is planned. Everything he committed is not just a small infraction of how we exist and survive in social life but a complete and clearly distinct shattering of it. Makes me shudder...