Fil-Am Blames Prescription Pill for Wife’s Murder-Suicide
Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN News
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA – Headlines and police reports will say that Charlene Ventanilla and her eight-week old baby Shane were the victims of apparent murder suicide, but her husband believes that his family members were murdered.
Last week, Ken Ventanilla woke up to find his wife Charlene lifeless from self-inflicted stab wounds and their baby boy Shane dead.
Authorities have labeled this as a murder suicide and are now trying to figure out why this Filipina mother would stab her infant son to death and then turn the knife on herself.
While Ken didn’t want to appear on camera, he spoke to BA, agreeing to have his voice recorded. He hopes the conversation can shed light on what he believes may be the true reason for his wife’s unspeakable actions—he blames it on side effects from prescription contraception.
“She took birth control that her doctor prescribed her because she didn’t want to get pregnant so fast because we already had back-to-back kids and we wanted to have a break from having any other kids and her doctor never warned her, never told her side effects about the birth control that she was issuing her,” he said.
He said the days after his wife took her first dose, her attitude and mental state changed.
“I noticed her anxiety and paranoia was not normal. It was about four days prior before she left us,” he said.
While they cut off the use of the pill within a week and attempted an intervention, they thought the graphic designer’s mental state was improving but it was too little too late. Last Tuesday morning, the 36-year old stabbed herself and her child.
“She never had a history of any kind of depression or anything. It’s a big issue, for me, with doctors just giving women this, knowing that they’re already having chemical changes in their body after having a child but just giving them that mini pill and watching their post-partum blues soar to post-partum psychosis,” said Ventanilla.
And now Ken, Charlene’s husband of eight years, is becoming a voice, hoping to warn other families against the side effects of certain pills. Many friends and family members have come out to pledge monetary support for Ken and their two-year old son through a GoFundMe page, raising thousands to help for the family expenses.
As the family continues to mourn, Ken is now exploring his possible next legal steps when it comes to the issue of prescription contraceptives and the disclosure of their possible side effects.
(Source: ABS-CBN.com)