Viswa Vanapalli
In October 2012, 15-month-old Prince McLeod Rams died while under his father’s care. The authorities later had reason to believe he was murdered and eventually convicted the father, Joaquin Shadow Rams Sr. Prince’s mother, Hera McLeod, was always against Joaquin having visitation rights. Her worst fears came true when Prince died during a visit with him. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Citizen PI: A Failure in the System’ deals with this very case. So, if you’re curious about where Hera might be today, here’s what we know.
Who is Hera McLeod?
Hera graduated from George Washington University in Washington DC and then worked with Teach for America for a while. Eventually, she landed a job as an intelligence analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton. Sometime in 2010, Hera met Joaquin through an online dating site. He told her that he was an aspiring musician. The two along quite well, and the relationship seemed to be coasting. In July 2011, she gave birth to Prince, and the couple was engaged to be married.
However, that wasn’t to be because Hera left Joaquin sometime after Prince was born. Hera’s younger sister claimed that Joaquin threatened to have her gang-raped if she didn’t have sex with him. But Joaquin stated the sex was consensual. The authorities learned of a video recording of the encounter that Joaquin recorded without Hera’s sister’s consent, with a department spokesperson saying that the video “substantiated Rams’s account of consensual sex.” Furthermore, Hera learned that Joaquin lied to her about a lot of things regarding his life, including his age and work. In the end, she left Joaquin and fought for full custody of Prince.
Hera stated that Joaquin was an unfit father, adding that he was involved in the pornography business and was suspected of killing one of his ex-girlfriends. However, the judge ruled that Joaquin would get supervised visits, which later changed to unsupervised visits. It was during one of these occasions that Joaquin killed Prince. Hera later said, “I knew how bad this could get. … If the laws are not designed to protect children, then they need to be changed. In my son’s case, it appears as though death was the only threshold for denial of visitation.”
Where is Hera McLeod Now?
When Joaquin was convicted and later sentenced to life for killing Prince, Hera was present in court. She said to him, “I have to live the rest of my life with the fact that I wasn’t able to protect him from that monster. But you did not break me. I am not a victim. I am a survivor and maybe even a warrior. But I am no longer anyone’s victim.” Today, Hera works as an engineering manager at a major tech firm in Virginia. She is also a writer and a civil rights activist, raising awareness regarding family court reform. On the personal front, Hera is a doting mother to her two daughters.
Red More: Where is Joaquin Shadow Rams Sr?
