Matricide is the act of
killing
Killing, Killings, or The Killing may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Killing'' (film), a 2018 Japanese film
* ''The Killing'' (film), a 1956 film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick Television
* ''The Killing'' (Danish TV serie ...
one's own
mother
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...
.
Known or suspected matricides
*
Amastrine, Amastris, queen of
Heraclea, was drowned by her two sons in 284 BC.
*
Cleopatra III of Egypt
Cleopatra III ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα; c.160–101 BC) was a queen of Egypt. She ruled at first with her mother Cleopatra II and husband Ptolemy VIII from 142 to 131 BC and again from 127 to 116 BC. She then ruled with her sons Ptolem ...
was assassinated in 101 BC by order of her son,
Ptolemy X
Ptolemy X Alexander I ( gr, Πτολεμαῖος Ἀλέξανδρος, ''Ptolemaĩos Aléxandros'') was King of Egypt from 107 BC till his death in 88 BC, in co-regency with his mother Cleopatra III as Ptolemy Philometor Soter until 101 BC, and ...
, for her conspiracy.
*
Ptolemy XI of Egypt had his wife,
Berenice III
Berenice III (Greek: Βερενίκη; 120–80 BC) was also known as Cleopatra, ruled between 101 and 80 BC. Modern scholars studying Berenice III refer to her sometimes as Cleopatra Berenice. She was co-ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt from 101–8 ...
, murdered shortly after their wedding in 80 BC. She was also his stepmother and half-sister.
* In AD 59, the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
is said to have ordered the murder of his mother
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius.
Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claud ...
, supposedly because she was conspiring against him.
*
Mary Anne Lamb, the mentally ill sister of essayist
Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...
, killed their invalid mother during an episode of mania in 1796.
*
Sidney Harry Fox
Sidney Harry Fox (1899 – 8 April 1930) was a British petty swindler and convicted murderer. He was executed for the murder of his mother in an attempt to obtain money from an insurance policy on her life. His case is unusual in that it is a rar ...
, a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
man, hanged in 1930 for killing his mother to gain from her insurance.
*
Battle of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
, 1945: There are accounts in which Okinawan civilians killed their mothers to prevent them from being captured, raped, tortured, and/or killed by the invading American forces.
* The
Parker–Hulme murder case
The Parker–Hulme murder case began in the city of Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954, when Honorah Rieper (also known as Honorah Parker, her legal name) was killed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's c ...
of 1954, in which 16-year-old Pauline Parker bludgeoned her mother Honorah to death with the assistance of Parker's 15-year-old friend Juliet Hulme. This case was dramatized in the 1994 film ''
Heavenly Creatures
''Heavenly Creatures'' is a 1994 New Zealand biographical psychological drama film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his partner, Fran Walsh, and starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in their feature film debuts ...
''.
*
Jack Gilbert Graham
John "Jack" Gilbert Graham (January 23, 1932 – January 11, 1957) was an American mass murderer who, on November 1, 1955, killed 44 people aboard United Airlines Flight 629 near Longmont, Colorado, using a dynamite time bomb. Graham planted th ...
killed his mother along with 43 people by planting a dynamite bomb in his mother's suitcase, which was subsequently loaded aboard United Airlines Flight 629 in 1955.
*
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas (August 23, 1936 – March 12, 2001) was an American convicted serial killer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy while incarcerated for these crimes when he falsely c ...
killed his mother in 1960 by stabbing her in the neck.
*
Charles Whitman
Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was an American mass murderer who became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper". On August 1, 1966, Whitman used knives to kill his mother and his wife in their respective homes, then went to ...
killed his mother and wife before going on his killing spree at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
that killed 14 people and wounded 31 others, as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the university's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin police.
*
John Emil List murdered his mother, wife and his three children on November 9, 1971, making List also guilty of
filicide
Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word ''filicide'' is derived from the Latin words and ('son' and 'daughter') and the suffix ''-cide'', meaning to kill, murder, or cause death. The word can refer both ...
and
uxoricide
Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the ki ...
. He was a fugitive for 18 years. He was apprehended on June 1, 1989, after an episode of ''
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
'' aired. On May 1, 1990, he was sentenced to five life terms in prison.
*
Antony Baekeland murdered his mother,
Barbara Daly Baekeland
Barbara Daly Baekeland (September 28, 1921 – November 17, 1972) was a wealthy American socialite who was murdered by her son, Antony "Tony" Baekeland. She was the ex-wife of Brooks Baekeland, who was the grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of B ...
, on November 11, 1972, at their luxurious London apartment. She had allegedly raped him in order to "cure" his homosexuality. ''
Savage Grace
''Savage Grace'' is a 2007 drama film directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard A. Rodman, based on the book ''Savage Grace'' by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson. The story is based on the highly dysfunctional relationship between heiress ...
'' is a book and a movie based on this event.
*
Serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Edmund Kemper
Edmund Emil Kemper III (born December 18, 1948) is an American serial killer who murdered a total of 10 people, including a 15-year-old girl, as well as his own mother and her best friend, from May 1972 to April 1973, following his parole for m ...
beat his mother to death in 1973, along with one of his mother's friends, before turning himself in to the police. He had previously committed six sex-murders. Kemper had been psychologically abused by his domineering mother in his youth.
*
Ronald DeFeo, Jr.
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. (September 26, 1951 – March 12, 2021) was an American mass murderer who was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters in Amityville, Long Island, New York. Condem ...
killed his parents and his four siblings in what would later become known as "
The Amityville Horror House" (1974)
*
Bradford Bishop
William Bradford Bishop Jr. (born August 1, 1936) is a former United States Foreign Service officer who has been a fugitive from justice since allegedly killing his wife, mother, and three sons in 1976. On April 10, 2014, the Federal Bureau of In ...
allegedly bludgeoned his mother, spouse and three children to death in 1976. He was indicted for murders and remains at large.
*
Jim Gordon, a session musician who played drums with
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
band
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos was an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, keyboardist and singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previou ...
, bludgeoned his mother with a hammer and then stabbed her to death with a butcher's knife in 1983. In May 1984 he was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.
*
Campo Elías Delgado
Campo Elías Delgado Morales (14 May 1934 – 4 December 1986) was a Colombian spree killer, former US serviceman and self-described Vietnam War veteran who killed 29 people, and wounded 12 more, most of them at an upscale Bogotá restaur ...
killed his mother and 28 others in a killing spree that ended with his death in 1986.
*
Susan Cabot
Susan Cabot (born Harriet Pearl Shapiro; July 9, 1927 – December 10, 1986) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She rose to prominence for her roles in a variety of Western films, including ''Tomahawk'' (1951), ''The Duel at Sil ...
, 1950s actress, was beaten to death in 1986 at her Hollywood home by her son
Timothy Roman. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
*
Michael Robert Ryan murdered his mother in 1987 before going on an armed rampage in
Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
, England.
*
David Brom
David Francis Brom (born October 3, 1971) is an American mass murderer. He killed his parents, brother and sister with an axe in February 1988 in Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ol ...
murdered his mother with an ax in 1988, along with his father, younger brother, and sister.
*
Peter Lundin
Peter Kenneth Bostrøm Lundin (born February 15, 1972), who later renamed himself to Bjarne Skounborg and most recently Thomas Kristian Olesen, is a Danish serial killer who, on March 15, 2001, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Østre La ...
murdered his mother in 1991 in North Carolina. After serving his prison sentence, he moved to Denmark, where he murdered his girlfriend and her two children.
* The
Menendez Brothers
Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970) are American brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise ("Kitty") Menéndez.
During the trial, the Me ...
were convicted during a highly publicized trial in July 1996 for the shotgun killings of their parents in 1989.
*
Luke Woodham,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
resident who killed his mother in June 1997 before killing two more and wounding seven others in the
Pearl High School shooting
The Pearl High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on October 1, 1997 at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi, United States. The gunman, 16-year-old 11th grade student Luke Woodham (born February 5, 1981), killed two students ...
. Currently serving a life sentence at the
Mississippi State Penitentiary
Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,[Kip Kinkel
The Thurston High School shooting occurred on May 21, 1998, at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. 15-year-old freshman student Kipland Kinkel, who had been scheduled to appear at an expulsion hearing the day prior, murdered his parents ...]
(1982– ), an
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
boy who was convicted of killing both parents as well as killing two students at his school on May 20, 1998.
*
Dr. I. Kathleen Hagen, a prominent urologist, killed her mother and her father in August 2000 and was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.
*
Yukio Yamaji
was a Japanese serial killer. He murdered his own mother in 2000, was imprisoned, and then paroled in 2003. In 2005, two years after his release, he raped and then murdered a 27-year-old woman and her 19-year-old sister, for which he was senten ...
, a 16-year-old living in Japan, killed his mother in 2000. After his release, he raped and murdered a woman and her sister in 2005. He was
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
in 2009.
*
Dipendra of Nepal
Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, दीपेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह, 27 June 1971 – 4 June 2001) was the King of Nepal for three days from 1 to 4 June 2001. For the duration of his three day reign he was ...
(1971–2001) is presumed to have massacred much of his family at a royal dinner on June 1, 2001, including his mother Queen
Aiswarya, father, brother, and sister. Conspiracies and controversy surrounds this claim.
*
Erika di Nardo killed her mother and brother in 2001. See
Novi Ligure murder The Novi Ligure murder was a double murder that took place on the evening of 21 February 2001 in Novi Ligure, Piedmont, Italy.
Incident
Susanna Cassini, a 41-year-old accountant, and her 11-year-old son Gianluca were both stabbed (in total 97 tim ...
*
Sef Gonzales
Sef Gonzales (born 16 September 1980) is a Filipino Australian man who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the July 2001 murders of his father Teodoro "Teddy" Gonzales (46), his mother Mary Loiva Gonzales (43), and his sister C ...
, an Australian man who killed his father, mother and sister in 2001.
*
Sarah Marie Johnson
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
(1987– ), an
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
girl who was convicted of killing both her parents on the morning of September 2, 2003.
*
Daniel Petric
Daniel Petric (; born August 24, 1991) is a convicted murderer from Wellington, Ohio. At age 16, he shot both of his parents after his father confiscated his copy of the video game ''Halo 3''. His mother died, but his father managed to recover ...
fatally shot his mother in 2007.
*
Michael Kenneth McLendon
On March 10, 2009, Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, fatally shot ten people and wounded six others between the communities of Kinston, Samson, and Geneva, Alabama. McLendon's shooting spree was the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama's history.
Mc ...
began the
Geneva County shootings
On March 10, 2009, Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, fatally shot ten people and wounded six others between the communities of Kinston, Samson, and Geneva, Alabama. McLendon's shooting spree was the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama's history.
Mc ...
by killing his mother at their home in Alabama.
* Jasmiyah Kaneesha Whitehead (b. 1993) and Tasmiyah Janeesha Whitehead (b. 1993) are identical twins who were convicted in 2014 for the
murder of Nikki Whitehead
Jarmecca Yvonne "Nikki" Whitehead (April 18, 1975 – January 13, 2010) was a 34-year-old mother of 16-year-old identical twins named Jasmiyah Kaneesha Whitehead and Tasmiyah Janeesha Whitehead (born on November 27, 1993). On the afternoon of Janua ...
(their mother).
*
Jennifer Pan
Jennifer Pan (born June 17, 1986) is a Vietnamese Canadian woman who was convicted of a 2010 kill-for-hire attack targeting both of her parents, murdering her mother and injuring her father. The crime took place at the Pan residence in Union ...
staged a home invasion that led to the November 8, 2010 murder of her mother, Bich Pan.
* Tyler Hadley, perpetrator of the
murders of his parents, had killed his mother and father with a hammer in 2011. He was sentenced to
life in prison
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
.
* Adam Lanza in the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...
shot and killed his mother along with 20 children, 6 other adults and then himself on December 14, 2012.
*
Kvissel murder, October 2014: Danish 15-year-old Lisa Borch and her 29-year-old Iraqi boyfriend Bakhtiar Mohammed Abdullah were convicted of murdering her mother in her sleep.
*
The murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, June 2015: 19 year-old Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her 26 year-old boyfriend Nicholas Godejon stabbed Gypsy's mother to death while she was sleeping. Dee Dee likely suffered from
Munchausen syndrome by proxy
Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), also known as fabricated or induced illness by carers (FII), and first named as Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP), is a condition in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in a ...
.
*
Jake Davison, August 2021: shot his mother, Maxine, and others, including a three-year-old girl.
See also
*
, the killing of one's uncle
*
Filicide
Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word ''filicide'' is derived from the Latin words and ('son' and 'daughter') and the suffix ''-cide'', meaning to kill, murder, or cause death. The word can refer both ...
, the killing of one's child
*
Fratricide
Fratricide (, from the Latin words ' "brother" and the assimilated root of ' "to kill, to cut down") is the act of killing one's own brother.
It can either be done directly or via the use of either a hired or an indoctrinated intermediary (a ...
, the killing of one's brother
*
Infanticide
Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
, the killing of an infant
*
Mariticide
Mariticide (from Latin ''maritus'' "husband" + ''-cide'', from ''caedere'' "to cut, to kill") literally means the killing of one's own husband. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context o ...
, the killing of one's husband
* Nepoticide, the killing of one's nephew
*
Parricide
Parricide refers to the deliberate killing of one’s own father and mother, spouse (husband or wife), children, and/or close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It ...
, the killing of one's parents or another close relative
*
Patricide
Patricide is (i) the act of killing one's own father, or (ii) a person who kills their own father or stepfather. The word ''patricide'' derives from the Greek word ''pater'' (father) and the Latin suffix ''-cida'' (cutter or killer). Patricide ...
, the killing of one's father
*
Prolicide
Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. The word ''filicide'' is derived from the Latin words and ('son' and 'daughter') and the suffix ''-cide'', meaning to kill, murder, or cause death. The word can refer both ...
, the killing of one's offspring
*
Sororicide
Sororicide (from Latin ''soror'' "sister" + ''-cide'', from ''caedere'' "to cut, to kill") is the act of killing one's own sister.
There are a number of examples of sororicide and fratricide in adolescents, even pre-adolescents, where sibling ...
, the killing of one's sister
*
Uxoricide
Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the ki ...
, the killing of one's wife
*
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
, the killing of oneself
References
{{reflist