The why behind crime may never be fully answered

To anyone who knew her, and even those who did not, it was obvious Maggie Kamysz loved her daughter.

Kamysz and 7-year-old Sydney were nearly inseparable, leaving home as a pair almost every day and eating together frequently at a favorite dining spot.

An online weblog kept by Kamsyz calls Sydney the most important thing in her life and boasts of the girl's intelligence.

So why would a mother described as intensely loving of her only child take the girl's life this week before killing herself?

It's a question with which local investigators working without the benefit of a note or any other indication of Kamysz's intentions are grappling.

"Absent a note or confession, it's impossible to know what exactly was in her mind," said Lt. Donald Carlson, head of the McHenry County Sheriff's Departments investigations division. "It's impossible to get into someone's head."

Long after the whos, whats, wheres and hows in cases known as maternal filicide are resolved, the question of why lingers. While cases of domestic murder always are disturbing, instances of a mother murdering her own child are particularly shocking to our sensibilities, experts say.

"In our culture, and in most cultures, it's an unthinkable act for a mother to kill a child," said University of South Carolina professor Geoffrey McKee, author of "Why Mothers Kill: A Forensic Psychologist's Casebook."

"We can comprehend an abusive and neglectful mother who doesn't intend to kill her child," McKee said. "We have a hard time with a mother who kills intentionally."

According to the American Anthropological Association, more than 200 mothers kill their children every year.

Most of them fall into one of five categories, McKee said: detached parents, abusers who kill by accident, the mentally ill, psychopaths or, in the rarest of cases, those retaliating against the father.

Kamysz's case does not appear to fit easily into any of those groups.

The former school aide was not known to be suffering postpartum depression. And authorities aren't aware of any history of mental illness.

While some described her as overly harsh with her daughter, there was no question from those who knew Kamysz that she was deeply attached to the girl.

And while Sydney was at the center of a visitation dispute between her mother and father, attorneys on both sides said the proceedings were not especially hostile and there was no doubt Kamysz would retain physical custody of the girl.

McKee said there appears to be several other unusual elements to the case, like the fact Kamysz chose to kill herself miles away from her daughter and the level of premeditation that appears to have been involved.

However, the fact that Kamysz chose to take her own life after killing her daughter may be telling.

Case Western University Professor of Psychiatry Phillip J. Resnick said about one in four mothers who kill their children later commit suicide.

Those mothers, he said, usually are driven by altruistic motives.

"Their primary focus is on taking their own life out of depression and they believe their child would be better off at their side," said Resnick, who has written extensively on the subject and who testified as an expert witness on behalf of Marilyn Lemak, the Naperville mother convicted in 2001 of murdering her three young children.

As was the case with Kamysz, mothers who kill their children for altruistic reasons choose suffocation or similar, less violent means and place their victim in comfortable surroundings such as in bed and with their favorite stuffed animals.

"It sounds ironic, but the mother chooses the least painful way she can accomplish it," he said.

Carlson said investigators continue to search for clues to explain what happened to make Kamysz kill her daughter and then herself Tuesday, but admits an easy answer may never be found.

"A crime like this is unfathomable," he said.