Mom smells gas in son’s room – police searching for him after shocking find.

Michael SchwarzAugust 14, 2023

Mother Discovers Gruesome ‌Scene in Son’s Room

A mother in South Central Los Angeles made a horrifying discovery in her son’s⁣ room. Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department told KTTV that the unnamed woman entered her son’s ‍room after ⁢noticing a “distinct gas smell.”

Inside the room, she found the body‍ of a young woman wrapped in ⁣plastic.

KTLA identified the victim ‍as‍ a 20-year-old woman.

Otherwise, details are few and⁢ sketchy.

Son Remains at Large, ⁣Considered a Suspect

Officers responded to a call at⁢ the 2200 block of Wall Street on Sunday. The KTTV report placed the police response at ⁤11:15 a.m., while KTLA reported the call as occurring at 1:15 p.m.

The son, identified only as a man ⁤in his 20s, remains ⁣at large. Police regard him as a suspect in a possible homicide.

Meanwhile, the mother who made ‍the gruesome discovery also ⁣made the call⁣ to police.

The Complexity⁤ of a Mother’s Love

The facts of this case, once discovered and publicized, will answer questions arising from our natural⁣ curiosity and revulsion. Likewise, certain ‌obvious yet‍ still-unthinkable aspects⁢ of ⁢this story, such as horror for the victim and grief for her loved ones, enter our imaginations and inform our sympathy.

The mother’s decision ⁣to call the police, however, constitutes the one part of this ⁣story⁢ in which our imaginations might ⁢trick ⁤us ‌into perceiving moral ambiguity.

For instance, when we ⁢imagine ourselves in the dreadful position in which the victim’s loved ones now find themselves,⁤ we have no doubt that the mother did right ‌by ‍calling‍ the police.

When⁣ we⁣ imagine ourselves in⁣ the mother’s position, however, the decision to report her son as a‍ potential murderer seems‍ less straightforward. After‌ all, amid the whirlwind of trauma-induced emotions ⁢she must have felt after discovering‌ a dead ⁢body in her son’s⁣ room, we still detect a⁤ mother’s love for her⁢ son.

How far would a mother go to protect her child? We can imagine any length. We might not endorse it, but on some level, we would understand.

Thus, when it⁢ enters our moral calculations ‌in this way, love can deceive us.

The Complicated Nature of Love

This⁤ is⁢ a complicated ‍issue for all human⁢ beings but especially for Christians. For instance, in a [1945essay entitled “The‍ Sermon and the Lunch,” legendary author⁢ C.S. Lewis described love,‍ in the ordinary⁢ sense, as insufficient even for well-ordered domestic life.

The problem, ⁢for Lewis, was ‍that love is too easily confused with affection,⁤ as ‌opposed to charity.

“Left to its natural bent,” Lewis wrote, “affection becomes in the end greedy, naggingly solicitous, jealous, exacting, timorous.”

Furthermore, in‍ evaluating the behavior of an acquaintance, a woman who unquestionably⁢ loved her family but ⁢whom Lewis described as an “endless whimper of self-pity,” the great Christian writer observed that the “continued disappointment of her continued and ⁣ruthless demand for sympathy, for affection, for appreciation has helped to make her what she is.”

The point, of course, is not to suggest anything analogous ⁢to ⁣the⁢ situation ‍of the mother in South Central ⁢Los Angeles. ⁣Rather, the point is to show how very complicated our idea of love can be — ⁣how it threatens to deceive us even when‍ we want it to guide our ‍moral ⁣actions.