March 28, 2024, 09:59:34 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: NEW CHILD BOARD CREATED IN THE POLITICAL SECTION FOR THE 2016 ELECTION
 
   Home   Help Login Register  
Pages: 1   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: 5 YO Garnett Spears Died From Lethal Dose of Sodium Put in His Feeding Tube  (Read 5452 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« on: May 05, 2014, 07:11:17 PM »

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/05/mom-5-year-old-boy-who-died-from-poisoned-feeding-tube-could-face-charges/?cmpid=edpick&google_editors_picks=true
Mom of 5-year-old boy who died from poisoned feeding tube could face charges
May 5, 2014

Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. –  A woman who built an online following blogging about her sickly young son could soon face charges after authorities determined that his death last January was caused by a lethal dose of sodium injected into his feeding tube, a source close to the investigation told FoxNews.com.

Five-year-old Garnett Spears, of Chestnut Ridge, N.Y, died at Westchester County Medical Center Jan. 23, after being hospitalized, first at Nyack Hospital, several days earlier. Although his mother, Lacey Spears, had for years blogged of his health problems, authorities became suspicious when doctors discovered the alarming sodium level in the child's body, and the Westchester County medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide, according to the source.

"It's evident by the nature of what was found in his body that somebody, in effect, poisoned him," the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told FoxNews.com. "He [Garnett] died at the hands of somebody else."

Prior to his death, the boy had become known as "Garnett the Great" to an online circle who followed reports by his mother, Lacey Spears. She chronicled his many hospital stays and dietary problems on a blog, "Garnett's Journey," subtitled "Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."

But the source who discussed the case with FoxNews.com said that shortly after the boy was hospitalized for the last time in his short life, his mother called a neighbor and asked that she destroy any evidence of feeding tubes within the home.

"She wanted the neighbor to dispose of incriminating evidence," the source said. "The neighbor never did get rid of it and police seized it." That accusation was originally reported by The Journal News, which was the first news outlet to launch an in-depth investigation into the case.
 
In an April 18 posting on her Facebook page, Spears put up a photo of her son holding a toy with the comment, "I want to carry on his legacy & the only way I can right now is to write about him & share his pictures." Earlier postings show a beaming blond boy riding a red bike, sitting on the beach with his mother and eating solid food.

Garnett Spears first received a feeding tube when he was a baby. Since that time, his mother has publicly detailed her life with her son on social media websites, like Facebook. She would often post comments about her son's many hospitalizations -- even posting pictures of her son in his final hours at Westchester County Medical Center, where he was airlifted from Nyack Hospital after being admitted there in mid-January for seizures.

Investigators are looking at the possibility the boy's mother suffers from Munchausen by proxy, a psychiatric disorder and rare form of child abuse in which a parent or caregiver harms a child to seek the attention and sympathy of others.
 

It remains unknown whether Garnett ever needed a feeding tube in the first place, and medical personnel in at least two states declined to comment, citing patient privacy laws. Members at the small Fellowship community, meanwhile, reported seeing the boy eating solid foods on several occasions without a problem.
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
Green Eyes
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 15496


Happy Spring


« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2014, 08:39:26 PM »

This makes me ill. What kind of person does something like this. 
Logged

GOD BLESS AMERICA
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2014, 02:26:01 PM »

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mommy-blogger-accused-of-poisoning-son-5-to-death/
Mommy blogger accused of poisoning son, 5, to death
June 18, 2014

WESTCHESTER, N.Y. - A 26-year-old woman who documented her young son's persistent illness on social media was charged Tuesday with killing him by poisoning him with sodium.

Lacey Spears was indicted in Westchester County, N.Y. on charges of second-degree depraved murder and first-degree manslaughter in the January death of 5-year-old Garnett Spears.

Depraved murder is a count often used in cases that suggest extreme recklessness rather than intentional killing. It carries the same maximum sentence, however - 25 years to life.

CBS New York reports authorities believe Spears tortured her son medically for years and might have suffered from Muchausen by proxy, a psychiatric disorder that leads parents to sicken a child to seek sympathy or attention.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday, according to the station, that Spears fed her son lethal amounts of salt after conducting Internet research about the effects salt would have on the boy.
The 26-year-old pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Tuesday and is being held without bail. A call to her attorney, David Sachs, was not immediately returned.

Spears, who was living in Chestnut Ridge at the time of her son's death, brought her son to Nyack Hospital in Rockland County on Jan. 17, reporting he was having seizures. On Jan. 19, with no medical explanation, Garnett's sodium levels rose to an extremely dangerous level. Spears was sharing her son's hospital room and prosecutors believe the mother administered sodium through the boy's stomach tube.

The boy was transferred to the Westchester Medical Center. The Westchester district attorney says doctors there suspected Spears was harming her son and called New York state children's services, which launched an investigation.

Spears, who had been staying with family in Kentucky, turned herself in to Westchester County police Tuesday after a sealed grand jury indictment was handed up and authorities obtained a warrant for her arrest.

"She really didn't show any emotion," Westchester Police Capt. Christopher Calabrese told CBS New York. "She was kind of stoic when she came here. I think that she knew the grand jury was going on. She anticipated this happening, and she turned herself in with her attorney."

Lacey and Garnett Spears lived the last year of the boy's short life at the Fellowship Community, an indyllic communal community in Chestnut Ridge, in Rockland County, where the mother cared for the elderly and farmed, and the boy attended private school.

One resident of the community has reportedly said Spears called her asking that she dispose of Garnett's feeding bag just before he died.
 
Spears is due back in court July 2.
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2014, 08:18:56 PM »

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/07/19/experts-case-of-accused-child-killer-lacey-spears-may-shed-light-on-munchausen-by-proxy/
Experts: Case Of Accused Child Killer Lacey Spears May Shed Light On Munchausen By Proxy
July 19, 2014

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Experts said the case of a mother accused of poisoning her 5-year-old son to death with salt appears be an example of how social media feeds into Munchausen by proxy, a disorder in which caretakers purposely harm children and then bask in the attention and sympathy.
Lacey Spears, 26, of Scottsville, Kentucky, pleaded not guilty last month to charges of depraved murder and manslaughter in Westchester County in the January death of her son, Garnett-Paul Spears, whose sodium levels rose to an extremely dangerous level with no medical explanation.
As Spears moved around the country — Alabama, Florida and eventually New York State — she kept friends updated on her son’s frequent hospitalizations with photos and musings on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a blog.
“My sweet angel is in the hospital for the 23rd time,” she tweeted in 2009. A series of reports on the case by The Journal News, which covers the New York suburbs, found she kept it up right through her son’s death, with 28 posts in the last 11 days of Garnett’s life, including, “Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m.”
Dr. Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist and forensic consultant in Birmingham, Alabama, who wrote the book “Playing Sick,” said he believes the Internet has contributed to the number of Munchausen by proxy cases, estimated from one study to be more than 600 a year in the U.S.
In a case exposed in 2011 in Great Britain, a childless 21-year-old woman joined an Internet forum for parents, claiming to have five children and chronicling her nonexistent baby’s battle with celiac disease and bacterial meningitis. Doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital found three cases of mothers who falsely blogged that their children were near death and were rewarded with support.
“There are instantly accessible and endlessly supportive groups out there that will pray with you and cry with you if you purport your child to be ill,” Feldman said.
Mark Sirkin, director of the mental health counseling program at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, said that with social media, “you can expand your circle from the people you know to strangers who you’ve never met — you’re just getting that much more attention.”
While prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Spears case have yet to mention Munchausen in court papers or hearings, experts say the disorder could play a role because Spears fits the pattern of caregivers who invent, exaggerate or cause a health problem in someone in their care and then seek to portray themselves as a hero.
More...
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
Sister
Monkey All Star Jr.
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 8648



« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2014, 08:13:26 PM »

 

How this poor child must have suffered during his short journey on this earth.

 
Logged


texasmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 32402


ARUBA: It's all about Natalee...we won't give up!


« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2014, 12:00:54 AM »



How this poor child must have suffered during his short journey on this earth.

 

 

http://www.ecanadanow.com/health/2014/05/07/blogger-lacey-spears-investigated-over-poisoning-death-of-son-used-salt-to-kill-5-year-old/

 

Quote
Records indicate that Garrett was hospitalized almost two dozen times throughout his very short life. A neighbor told police that Lacey allegedly asked her when her son was dying to go to their home in order to throw away his feeding tube, but the neighbor instead turned it over to the police.

Quote
The Florida Department of Children and Families revealed in April that they’ve had a file on Spears since 2011, following an anonymous tip-off concerning the boy’s welfare.

 
Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2014, 08:52:24 PM »

http://www.people.com/article/lacey-spears-garnett-munchausen-by-proxy
Garnett Spears, Who Died of Salt Poisoning, Had Been Treated for Same Thing as an Infant
September 21, 2014

A 5-year-old boy whose mother, Lacey Spears, is accused of poisoning him to death with salt, was treated for salt poisoning as an infant, according to newly released documents obtained by The Journal News of Westchester County, New York.

The newspaper obtained Garnett Spears' child fatality report from New York state officials after filing a Freedom of Information Act request.

"Medical records received from an Alabama hospital indicated the subject child was diagnosed with Hypernatremia, or elevated sodium levels, prior to his first birthday," the report states.

Garnett died on Jan. 23 in the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, after being admitted for vomiting and seizures. Spears, 26, chronicled his last hospital stay on social media, as she had many of his previous illnesses.

On June 17, she was charged with second-degree murder. Spears, who was living in Chestnut Ridge, New York, prior to Garnett's death, is being held without bail and has pleaded not guilty. Her next court hearing is Oct. 15.

While New York investigators have never officially said they believe Spears suffered from Munchausen by Proxy, a mental illness characterized by a parent sickening their child to get attention for themselves, the Alabama hospital raised this issue, the report states.

"In 2008, the mother was referred to mental health services with concerns of Post-Partum Depression and presumed Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy," the child fatality report reads.

In addition, "The mother verbalized on 1/14/2009 that she wanted to harm the subject child and was referred to medical social services on 2/9/2009 for interpersonal conflict, stress and dysfunction," according to the report.

The records do not state what the outcome of those referrals was.
More...
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2015, 11:53:13 AM »

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/28/defense-in-case-woman-accused-poisoning-son-with-salt-faces-uphill-battle-legal/
Defense in case of woman accused of poisoning son with salt faces uphill battle, legal experts say
January 28, 2015


 
Lacey Spears, 27, of Scottsville, Kentucky, who presented herself online as a supremely devoted mother, is charged with depraved murder and manslaughter in the death a year ago of Garnett-Paul Spears.

Jury selection began Monday in the case of Spears, who was living in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., at the time of her son's death. Garnett Spears died at Westchester County Medical Center Jan. 23, 2014, after being hospitalized, first at Nyack Hospital, several days earlier.

Although his mother had for years blogged of his health problems, authorities became suspicious when doctors discovered the alarming sodium level in the child's body, and the Westchester County medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide. Shortly after the boy was hospitalized for the last time in his short life, his mother called a neighbor and asked that she destroy any evidence of feeding tubes within the home, a source close to the case told FoxNews.com.

"This mother was intentionally feeding her child salt at toxic levels," prosecutor Doreen Lloyd said at Spears' arraignment.

Spears, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing through her attorneys.

The boy's sodium levels rose to a dangerous point with no medical explanation, prosecutors said, leading to a swollen brain, seizures and death. They believe his single mother, who was sharing his hospital room at Westchester Medical Center, administered salt through a feeding tube into Garnett's stomach.

All the while, Spears was keeping followers up to date with 28 online postings in the last 11 days of his life, noting his death with, "Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m." She had tens of thousands of entries over Garnett's lifetime, many about his doctor and hospital visits.

"My Sweet Angel Is In The Hospital For The 23rd Time," Spears tweeted on Nov. 9, 2009, adding a sad-faced emoticon. "Please Pray He Gets To Come Home Soon."

Jury selection began Monday with a pool of 90 potential jurors on hand at the courthouse. Several told the judge they had seen some of the extensive news coverage of the case.

Mark Bederow, a New York-based criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, said Spears and her defense team face many challenges due to strong circumstantial evidence incriminating her in the boy's death.

"Her Internet search about the dangers of sodium and the properties of iodized salt provide strong evidence that she knew what could happen to her son and thus exhibited a depraved indifference to human life," Bederow told FoxNews.com.

"Asking her neighbor to take a feeding bag which contained a high dose of sodium is powerful consciousness of guilt evidence," he said.

Prior to his death, the boy had become known as "Garnett the Great" to an online circle who followed reports by his mother. Spears chronicled his many hospital stays and dietary problems on a blog, "Garnett's Journey," subtitled "Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."

The single mother had moved from the South to live in the quiet "Fellowship Community" in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. -- a close-knit, rural community about 40 miles north of New York City that cares for the elderly and prides itself on organic farming and other self-sufficient means of living. The legal responsibility for the community is carried by the Rudolf Steiner Fellowship Foundation, Inc., a non-profit licensed by New York state as an adult care facility, according to its website.

In rulings delivered last week, Spears' messages on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace were determined relevant and are likely to be introduced as evidence. Some of the posted photos depict Garnett's declining health, said acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary.

Neary also found that prosecutors can tell jurors about Internet research Spears did on her iPhone into the dangers of sodium in children and the properties of iodized salt.

In addition, the judge said Garnett's hospital records from Alabama, Florida and New York are relevant and "inextricably interwoven into the fabric of this case. They provide a history of the child's medical issues and treatment leading up to his death. They illustrate the defendant's role as custodian and care giver."

Prosecutors believe Spears often lied to doctors about Garnett's health, for example claiming he had celiac disease when he didn't.

Spears' lawyers have not publicly detailed a defense strategy and did not return calls seeking comment. Attorney Stephen Riebling said in July that the defense would focus "on the relevant facts, not fiction."

Other evidence in the case includes bags used to feed Garnett which prosecutors say have "extraordinary" concentrations of sodium. The prosecution says Spears tried to cover up by asking a friend to take a feeding bag, "get rid of it and don't tell anybody."
The trial apparently will not include any reference to Munchausen by proxy, a disorder in which caretakers purposely but secretly harm children and then enjoy the attention and sympathy they receive. Some experts regard it as a mental illness and a defense to such crimes, while others consider it a motive. Several believe Spears' case fits the syndrome.

Spears' lawyers asked the judge to prohibit any mention of Munchausen and prosecutors said they had no plans to bring it up.

"It is somewhat surprising that the defense would not seek to offer evidence consistent with Munchausen by proxy which might emotionally move a jury away from murder and towards a lesser offense," Bederow told FoxNews.com. "Such a bold defense strategy suggests they are rolling the dice with an 'its not me' or 'this was an accident' defense.

The murder charge alleges Garnett was killed "under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life" rather than with intent. It carries the same maximum sentence as intentional murder, however -- 25 years to life. The manslaughter count alleges Spears killed her son "while intending to cause serious physical injury."

Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2015, 11:54:42 AM »

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/28/defense-in-case-woman-accused-poisoning-son-with-salt-faces-uphill-battle-legal/


One of many postings Lacey Spears put up on social media, chronicling her struggles with a son whom she portrayed as sickly and dependent on a feeding tube.
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2015, 05:17:30 PM »

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mom-convicted-killing-son-poisoning-salt-29329995
Mom Convicted of Killing Son, 5, by Poisoning Him With Salt
March 2, 2015

A woman who blogged for years about her son's constant health woes was convicted Monday of poisoning him to death by force-feeding heavy concentrations of sodium through his stomach tube.

A jury in the New York suburbs found Lacey Spears, of Scottsville, Kentucky, guilty of second-degree murder in the death last year of 5-year-old Garnett-Paul Spears.

The defense portrayed Spears as a caring mother and her son as sickly, but the prosecution argued that Spears reveled in the attention Garnett's illness brought her. Video showed Spears twice taking the boy into a hospital bathroom with a connector tube and the boy suffering afterward.

"The motive is bizarre, the motive is scary, but it exists," Assistant District Attorney Patricia Murphy said in closing arguments Thursday. "She apparently craved the attention of her family, her friends, her co-workers and most particularly the medical profession."

She suggested that Spears, 27, eventually killed the boy because she feared he would start telling people she was making him ill. Her actions were "nothing short of torture," she said.

Several doctors testified that there was no medical explanation for the spike in Garnett's sodium levels that led to his death.

But defense lawyer Stephen Riebling said there was no "direct evidence" of a crime and drew out from witnesses that Spears seemed devastated by her son's death. He said the hospital video was edited to eliminate tender scenes between mother and son, including one where Spears puts two pairs of socks on Garnett.

"If she's planning on killing him, why does she care whether his feet are cold?" he asked the jury.

He also said the hospital was negligent and dehydrated the boy — an assertion Murphy called "just ridiculous."

The evidence included two feeding bags found in Spears' apartment that were heavily tainted with salt, including one that Spears asked a friend to hide. One bag had the equivalent of 69 McDonald's salt packets in it, a forensic toxicologist testified.

Also in evidence were many of Spears' postings on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a blog and her online research into the dangers of sodium in children.

Spears, an Alabama native, was living with her son in Chestnut Ridge, New York, when he died. She moved to Kentucky afterward and was living there when she was arrested.

There was no mention at the trial of a disorder known as Munchausen by proxy in which caretakers secretly harm children to win sympathy. Some experts believe that disorder fits Spears' actions.

Video
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
Nut44x4
Maine - USA
Global Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 18800


RIP Grumpy Cat :( I will miss you.


« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2015, 05:01:52 PM »

I have no words...at least words that I can post here.   
Logged

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear  -- Rudyard Kipling

One who doesn't trust is never deceived...

'I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind' -Edgar Allen Poe
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Use of this web site in any manner signifies unconditional acceptance, without exception, of our terms of use.
Powered by SMF 1.1.13 | SMF © 2006-2011, Simple Machines LLC
 
Page created in 6.221 seconds with 21 queries.