We can’t even imagine what this family is going through.
Matt Stapleton recently talked about his wife Kelli Stapleton, who had a pretrial hearing on Tuesday for the alleged murder attempt of their 15-year-old autistic daughter Isabelle, and the dad talked about the trials and tribulations his family has suffered through since the original incident.
He also briefly mentioned what he’ll be feeling when his wife is handed down a verdict by the court. He said:
“It should be black and white ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ it should be easy to deal with. The reality is, it’s not.”
His wife Kelli faces a maximum life sentence because of the charges against her – the attempted murder of her daughter – and she’s plead not guilty to those charges.
Those charges stem from an incident on Sept. 3, 2013 when Kelli and her daughter Isabelle were found unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning. They both were resuscitated, but the act was considered an attempted murder-suicide after two lit charcoal grills were found in the closed van.
As for why she did this? Well, even the husband and father isn’t sure why. He said:
“Who knows when and if she made a decision to do what she did? At whatever point, she felt like that was her only option. And I think there are other parents that fall in that category…This is not an okay act. I still love her, but I’ll never forgive her.”
Still, Matt is trying to focus on improving upon his daughter’s “amazing” recovery, and also hopes to raise awareness about the stress and difficulties many families face when raising children with autism. He said:
“I couldn’t have made it through this tragic event without the support of my family, friends and an incredibly close community. I hope this traumatic event will prompt a call to action.”
We do too.
Hopefully this family will be able to continue recovering from this traumatic and painful experience — although we’re sure it may be hard to close any chapters on these events until the wife and mother Kelli Stapleton’s trial and subsequent ruling has passed.
[Image via AP Images.]