Here on Stolen Lives, we discuss brutal and heartbreaking crimes against children.

Themes may include child murder, torture, and sexual domestic and child abuse.

I do try my best to remain respectful for the babies in these stories, and leave out unnecessary

details that honestly, none of us need to know to understand the frustration of why and how

this ever happened.

However, if you find any of these themes triggering this podcast may not be for you.

Listener, discretion is advised.

This week's story is a listener's suggestion.

Thank you to Vanessa for bringing Axel's story to my attention.

Philicide is defined as a murder of a child by their parent or guardian,

something that we have discussed often on this podcast.

It's a crime that's difficult for many, myself included, to understand.

It takes a special kind of cruelty for a mother to look at her infant and rationalise away their life.

And yet that's precisely what the mother does in this week's story.

May 2018, Sickerville, New Jersey.

The peaceful morning was shattered by an ear-piercing scream.

A hysterical mother,

cradling her unresponsive little boy in her arms, ran out of her home and into the street.

She banged on doors screaming for help, until finally someone answered, shocked to see no signs of life in the child being held by his mother. This is Axel's story.

Axel Jace Reynolds was born December 17, 2016 in Blackwood, New Jersey, to parents Heather

and Joseph Reynolds. Axel had three older siblings from his parents' previous relationships,

who doted on him constantly.

...