Everyone is talking about Farmville, a fun and addicting Facebook game. But it’s now deadly?
A Florida mother, Alexandra V. Tobias, could be facing 25 to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to shaking her three month old baby Dylan Lee Edmonson to death after its crying interrupted her playing of the Facebook application, Farmville.
Facebook, has many applications available to use. The ‘apps’ include games, quizzes, horoscopes, and more. Farmville is a virtual farm that you take care of on your computer; you plant and harvest crops, buy animals, build stables, and help tend neighbors farms, too.
Tobias, 22, admitted that when she was angry she would shake her baby. That day Dylan wouldn’t stop crying loudly and the mother was too busy playing Farmville to take care of her child.
According to her, she shook the baby until it stopped crying, then set the child down on the couch to go outside and smoke a cigarette to compose herself. When Tobias came back in, she said the family dog had knocked the baby off the chair and the child started crying some more. She then continued to shake the baby and said she may or may not have hit his head on the computer.
After the shaking Tobias said she called an ambulance for the baby.
Alexandra Tobias pleaded guilty of 2nd degree murder in Jacksonville for the event that happened in January of this year. With her statements, she made it clear she knew what she was doing and has made the guilty verdict more possible.
Tobias also told the judge she had just recently graduated from high school.
The Farmville owners, Zenga, have not made any statements about the crime at this time.
When asked what she thought, sophomore Chayleen Smith said “its just wrong, she needs to be put into a mental institution for that. How could you kill your child over a game?”
When things like this occur, it puts a bad light on games like Farmville and Facebook.
When Dylan Mesner was asked if Facebook held any responsibility he said, “ I think Farmville is just stupid, so yes. But she should definitely be put away”
Strong reactions are expected from this cold-blooded crime. The future of the mother will be determined in December of this year.