Mom Forces Son to Kill Family Pet

Reported by Tacoma Perry | Edited by Steve Dixon

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/Mom-Forces-Boy-to-Kill-Family-Pet-012510

A Georgia mother is in jail after being charged with punishing her son for a bad report card by forcing him to kill a family pet.
Investigators said the mother ordered her 12-year-old son beat the animal with a hammer.

The crimes the mother is accused of are so bizarre and brutal, top law enforcement officials are stunned.

Investigators said what happened inside a Meriwether County home was a horrific act of violence. But the mother – 38-year-old Lynn Geter -- calls the incident punishment.

"She said she wasn't going to put up with his bad grades," said Meriwether Sheriff Steve WIlcox.

As soon as her 12-year-old son got home from school with those bad grades, investigators said Geter sat him down at the kitchen table with his beloved pet.

"She said that she loved her son and asked if the son loved his gerbil and he said yes. She proceeded to, uh," said Wilcox.

What she is alleged to have done next is hard for even an experienced law enforcement official to say.

Investigators said Geter put the pet in a bag and ordered her son to hit it with a hammer until it died.

The allegations stunned parents who know the family from school.

Investigators believe the boy was threatened. They said he had marks on his neck, which is why, in addition to child and animal cruelty charges, Geter faces a count of battery as well.

Geter is now sitting in a Meriwether County jail cell. Her three children are in the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services.

A judge has continued Geter's case until February 8.