Mom Forces Son to Kill Hamster with Hammer Over Bad Grades

When Lynn Middlebrooks Geter found that her 12-year-old son's report card wasn't to her liking, she didn't offer to help him with homework or ask teachers for extra instruction. No, she decided something more drastic was in order.

The 38-year-old mom from Warm Springs, Georgia decided the best way for her boy to learn was to kill his pet hamster. With a hammer.

The kid, naturally, was quit upset. What would happen with his next report card? Would he have to beat his sister to death to improve his commitment to math? So he told his teacher about it the next day.

The teacher called social workers, who in turn called the Meriwether County sheriff's department. For her visionary parenting strategies, Geter is now in jail for animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.

UPDATE: Lynn Geter was either the greatest mom in Georgia, or a Mommy Dearest who put up a good show in public, but was a wicked witch inside the privacy of her own home.

Those seem to be the radically different takes emerging on Lynn Geter. If you read the comments below, you'll find that she has more than a few supporters who describe her as a great mom, a PTA president, and a loyal cleaning lady at her church.

They also say her 12-year-old son has emotional problems and troubles with the truth.

The Meriwether County sheriff's department has a somewhat different take. They say they were first notified of the incident when a teacher found scratches on the boy's neck. The teacher contacted child services, which then called the sheriff's department. That's when they discovered that Geter forced her son to kill the hamster over bad grades.

Her friends are obviously disbelieving, as most friends would be. But it's somewhat telling that the mother of four remains in jail a week later for violating probation on a previous bust. There's no word on what that arrest was about, but when police believe it's significant enough to hold her for a week, there's more to this story than we know right now.

UPDATE: According to reports, the case initially began when a teacher noticed scratches on the 12-year-old boy's neck. Only later did sheriff's deputies discover that she had forced her son to kill his hamster over the bad grades he was receiving...