In 2010, I met a psychopath. That psychopath presented a story about himself that was a complete lie – from his profession, to his family, to even his birth name. By the time I learned that he was the suspect in the murder of two people (his own mother Alma Collins and his ex-girlfriend Shawn Mason), it was too late. I had already given birth to our son Prince.
Two weeks after Prince was born, I fled Rams’ house at gun point. I ran to the police for help, but trusting the Virginia police ended up being one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Instead of helping to keep my family safe, they helped my abuser.
I fought to keep my son safe from Rams for 15 months. Finally, after a judge in MD granted Rams unsupervised visitation, Joaquin Rams murdered my son Prince. Two weeks after Prince was killed, I learned that Rams had taken out over 500k in life insurance policies on my child.
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On Saturday October 20, 2012, I lost my son. I became a mother without a child. He died tragically while he was on one of his first court ordered unsupervised visits with his father. I have heard a lot of terrible stories, but how my son’s story ended is unimaginable. I now live for my baby boy. His name was Prince. He is my guardian angel and will always be in my heart.
This blog started out anonymous because I didn’t want to lose custody of my son by exposing the people who were putting his life in danger; however, now that my son is gone, I am not staying silent anymore. My name is Hera McLeod and my son’s name was Prince Elias McLeod Rams. This is our story. It might not sound real to those hearing it for the first time, but I can assure you that I am not a good enough storyteller to make this all up. I wish this were just a story, because then it wouldn’t be happening to me.
June 2012
I am a mom – but this is NOT a mommy blog. I start out with the reality of me as a mom because since July 2011, that will always be part of who I am. It’s a very important piece in my journey because he’s the love of my life. That little boy has truly saved my life.
Shortly after my son was born, my life was thrown into chaos that I could never have even imagined. If I was honest with myself, however, that chaos had really started from the first moment I met my son’s father. I was sucked into the vortex of evil. Since the night I left that vortex, I have been desperately trying to get out of the vortex.
I used to think my story was unique, but the more I tell it – the more I hear of others who have had horrible things happen to them. I have also heard of many parents who are struggling to keep their children from enduring the pain of a broken relationship…and worse…sometimes shielding them from a parent who is “socially maladjusted” or a parent who has a personality disorder or a parent who is just downright dangerous. It’s the extreme that I am talking about here, but there are likely elements that a lot of parents can relate to regardless of the degree of craziness that they are dealing with.nnI have been through hell in the past year and now I am trying to move on with my life, raise my little boy, and manage the fact that I don’t have a choice but to be connected to a psychopath (thanks to our not so glorious justice system). Gaining sole physical and legal custody of my son was the hardest and the most important thing I have ever done (and the most expensive). I still continue to fight each day to save myself and save my son from this terrorist. If just one person reads my story and gains some hope, tools to deal with the man/woman who terrorizes them, or feels less like a fool because they learn someone else has been conned too – It will all be worth it.
A lot of people like to claim that their ex is a psychopath. Well, mine really is.
