Woman who murdered her 3 children says she was a good mother
STAFF REPORT March 24, 2012 4:39PM
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Updated: March 26, 2012 10:00PM
Marilyn Lemak, the Naperville mother who murdered her three young children in 1999, tells a French documentary crew for a show airing Sunday that she believes she was a good mother but that her severe mental illness led to the tragedy.
Lemak, now 54, also said she has not forgiven herself and wishes she had succeeded in her suicide attempt after the murders, according to an account of the interview published in a Chicago newspaper.
In the documentary “Mal de Mere,” translated literally as “Evil of Mother,” Lemak struggles to describe her overwhelming sense of depression, which she says made her believe the children would better off dying with her. Lemak attempted suicide after drugging and then smothering her children, Nicholas, 7; Emily, 6; and Thomas, 3.
The interview was shot in August at Dwight Correctional Center, according to the newspaper. The former surgical nurse, described as pale, small and frail, says her seemingly idyllic suburban life was anything but, as she spiraled into severe mental illness. She has photos of her children in her cell and receives weekly visits from her parents.
The documentary is scheduled to air Sunday on the French TV channel M6.
