My Advice For The Guy Who Wants To Kill The Criminal Who Murdered And Ate His Son

09 Mar, 2011 by John Hawkins

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I’ve known people in roughly similar situations to the one that John Foreman is in, although admittedly, the circumstances are particularly horrific in this case,

The father of a five-year-old boy slain in 1975 has vowed to murder the man who did it “as aggressively and painfully as he killed my son” if he is released from prison early.

John Foreman told WPRO-AM radio that he blamed himself for accepting a plea deal that saw Michael Woodmansee convicted of the second-degree murder of his son Jason in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

Woodmansee was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1982, but the plea bargain deal allowed him to be released early for good behavior. This could happen as soon as August, the Providence Journal reported.

In the interview, Foreman claimed a journal kept by Woodmansee, which has not been released by police, details how the killer had eaten the young boy’s flesh.

“I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity, or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man,” Foreman added.

“I cannot think, I cannot sleep. All I think about is trying to find a way to get this man to kill him,” he told WPRO-AM.
Foreman said he wanted to kill Woodmansee “as aggressively and painfully as he killed my son.”

He said he remembered only one detail contained in the journal, that Woodmansee “ate the flesh of my son.”

First of all, I’ve never bought into the whole argument that criminals have “paid their debt to society” by going to jail. Jail is punishment and it doesn’t “pay” anything.

As to Foreman, I don’t blame him for feeling the way he does and let me say something that’s more controversial: I don’t think it would be IMMORAL for him to kill Michael Woodmansee for what he did to his son. You kill and eat someone’s 5 year old son and in my book, then you richly deserve a hard death at his hands.

That being said, if I could talk to John Foreman, I would tell him that he should let it go. Holding all that hate inside of him for this long hasn’t been good for him and going to prison isn’t going to accomplish anything either. Whether Woodmansee deserves it or not, since Foreman has already admitted to planning to kill him, a prosecutor is going to be obligated to go after him. Right or wrong, as a society, we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to revenge killings.

So, what should Foreman do? He should try to make enough of a stink to keep Foreman in prison if he can and then, from there, he should tell himself that he did all he could reasonably do for his son, let it go, and leave the rest to God. I hope, not for Michael Woodmansee’s sake, but for John Foreman’s sake and the sake of the people who care about him, that he’ll go that route.