Headline of the week

Man Who Put Mom in Freezer Had Odd History.

For those of you outside the States, many Americans woke up this morning to a news item regarding a man in Wisconsin: rather than call the police when his mother died in 2000, he placed her body in a meat freezer in his basement, and then filled the open space with ice and water. He made a momsicle, basically. I heard the outline of the story on my clock radio this morning, and suffice to say, I made a wild guess that it would turn out the fella - Philip Schuth - wasn't what most people would consider well-adjusted. The Associated Press confirms my suspicion with the story linked at the top.

I don't envy the headline writer who had to come up with the lead for this story, but surely something with a lower "No duh!" factor could have been crafted. As an example, we learn in the story that Schuth was once observed purchasing $150 worth of Spam in one trip to the grocery store. Perhaps a better headline would have been "With mother in freezer, Wisconsin man switched diet to canned meats"?

It seems the guy was looked after by a handful of neighbors, but finally cracked and shot one of them (non-fatally). With luck he'll be remanded to a psychiatric facility with a nice lawn until he's fit to stand trial - sometime after the second coming.