Joshua Price Used Child Porn To Keep From Murdering Wife, Daughters: Police

In late March, a 26-year-old student at Joliet Junior College was arrested for leaving a Flash drive full of child pornography in the college computer lab. Joshua K. Price was identified as the owner of the drive by schoolwork files also kept on the drive with his name on them.

Now, Price is allegedly giving police a chilling explanation of why he had such a collection of child porn, as well as images of dismembered women which prosecutors say appear authentic.

Price says he used the images to keep from killing his wife and two daughters.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Price served in the military in the Middle East, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. In videotaped interviews with investigators, he apparently explained that pornography distracts him from murderous thoughts about his family, including his daughters, ages four and six.

Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor used a somewhat curious literary allusion in his bid for a higher bail for Price, whom he felt was trying to keep his wife safe by revealing to authorities the danger that he truly was.

“Just as Odysseus ordered his men to lash him to the mast and not to release him as they encountered the Sirens, the defendant has attempted to insure the safety of his wife and children by revealing the previously hidden danger that he currently poses to them,” Connor wrote, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Bail for Price was set at $1 million. The three child pornography charges against him could land him in prison for up to seven years.