GUILTY NY - Garnett Spears, 5, dies of salt poisoning, Chestnut Ridge, 23 Jan 2014

LadyL · May 13, 2014

fly high Garrett ...

K_Z · May 14, 2014

1&2&3 said:
Doctors are so alert for child abuse cases, or supposed to be. I would like to see a law added to make doctors start reporting children who have many questionable visits to a doctor. Perhaps this would help these poor children that are mistreated. Life is tough enough, let alone a mother making it worse for her child!

Snipped for focus.

Many health professionals and acquaintances of Lacey and Garnett have formally expressed concern about this child, and Lacey's parenting, since Garnett was an infant in Georgia. It's beginning to look like every year or 2 Lacey took Garnett and moved far away, just as social services investigations were beginning to ramp up. She moved from Georgia, to Florida, to New York, in 5 years of Garnett's life. Garnett was hospitalized 23 times in 5 years.

This article is very illuminating.

The county reported to the Department of Human Resources that Garnett was bleeding from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears and was being airlifted to Birmingham.

"I was surprised that (the Department of Human Resources) doesn't have reports because (doctors) even did what they call a 'baby scan' on (Garnett) when he was an infant," she told The Journal News. "This is where they X-ray every bone in his body to look for old, unrepaired, unreported breaks."

More than two years before Garnett Spears' Jan. 23 death, the Florida Department of Children and Families opened an investigation into the 5-year-old's mother, based on a phone call to its child abuse hotline, the agency has confirmed.

"At least one person called the police when we heard (Garnett) was in the hospital (in New York) because she had suspicions," a member of the parenting group said in a recent online chat with The Journal News. "It seems like everyone knew that something was wrong, but never thought she'd hurt him. ... I think if we had looked past the veneer of the doting mom we could have helped him. It's my guess some people started to put together the pieces and she went to NY to avoid detection."

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/201...orts-social-services-florida-alabama/7367067/

K_Z · May 14, 2014

According to this article, Lacey Spears has retained Attorney David Sachs, who practices in Westchester County, NY. He is quoted speaking on her behalf in this article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ar-old-son-charged-killing-salt-overdose.html

http://www.rpslawyers.com/Attorney-Profiles/David-R-Sachs.aspx

This attorney is no lightweight (and probably not inexpensive)-- he used to work as an assistant district attorney in the same county where charges may be filed.

After graduating from Touro David began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Westchester County District Attorneys office where he prosecuted countless criminal cases and gained significant trial experience.

Knowing just a little bit about the court appointed attorney process, if he is already privately representing LS, and she is arrested and charged, he could well be on the case for the duration. I doubt that a local judge would allow him to withdraw purely for financial reasons, given the circumstances.

MyBelle · May 14, 2014

K_Z said:
Snipped for focus.

Many health professionals and acquaintances of Lacey and Garnett have formally expressed concern about this child, and Lacey's parenting, since Garnett was an infant in Georgia. It's beginning to look like every year or 2 Lacey took Garnett and moved far away, just as social services investigations were beginning to ramp up. She moved from Georgia, to Florida, to New York, in 5 years of Garnett's life. Garnett was hospitalized 23 times in 5 years.

This article is very illuminating.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/201...orts-social-services-florida-alabama/7367067/

It certainly illuminates a huge loophole that parents are walking right through and that is the fact that child protective agencies have no jurisdiction beyond state lines. All a parent under investigation has to do is move to another state. There needs to be a nationwide data base for these investigations so that an active investigation will be transferred rather than closed.

JMO

K_Z · May 14, 2014

I think that this particular doctor will almost certainly be called as an expert witness in an eventual trial. He is one of the world's leading experts in sodium metabolism. (There aren't a lot of them!)

Dr. Michael M. Moritz, MD. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He's a Nephrologist (kidney specialist).

http://www.chp.edu/CHP/Moritz,+Michael+L.,+MD

http://www.chp.edu/CHP/research+interests

Dr. Moritz is an internationally recognized expert in the controversial topic of salt poisoning in children and has served as a medical expert in high profile trials in the UK and US.

chaotic_idealism · May 14, 2014

MyBelle said:
It certainly illuminates a huge loophole that parents are walking right through and that is the fact that child protective agencies have no jurisdiction beyond state lines. All a parent under investigation has to do is move to another state. There needs to be a nationwide data base for these investigations so that an active investigation will be transferred rather than closed.

Can't police departments simply talk to each other, though? Like, check each others' databases? If a case moves beyond state lines, all they'd have to do is call up the police department at the person's destination.

So there's no national database to search for child protective services reports? In the age of the Internet, that sounds like a real oversight...

flourish · May 14, 2014

chaotic_idealism said:
Can't police departments simply talk to each other, though? Like, check each others' databases? If a case moves beyond state lines, all they'd have to do is call up the police department at the person's destination.

So there's no national database to search for child protective services reports? In the age of the Internet, that sounds like a real oversight...

Yeah it's ridiculous and unfortunate. I'm a teacher in Oregon, and can't tell you how many times I've made a DHS call and then the family disappears to another state a week later. It's frustrating, and unfortunately abusive and neglectful parents know how it works and will even tell me they just plan to move to another state when DHS gets involved.

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Hoosgirl · May 14, 2014

So a DHS caseworker just closes a file if their client moves to another state? That doesn't seem right.

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flourish · May 17, 2014

Hoosgirl said:
So a DHS caseworker just closes a file if their client moves to another state? That doesn't seem right.

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I don't think they actually close the case, they still have an open case in that state, it's just that since the case doesn't follow them like say, a warrant would, there's not another case automatically opened in the new state. So unless DHS in the old state files criminal charges and goes that route, the new state doesn't have a clue there's an open case in another state, and the old state is out of the picture.

And oh yeah, it's not right at all, it's enabling and ridiculously behind the times.

I always hope they put their kids in school in the new state.

K_Z · Jun 10, 2014

Hoping for an arrest very soon in this horrible medical abuse case.

These quotes were from May 6-7, so it's been a month. Drop the shoe already!

Lacey Spears, the New York mother who gained a large online following by blogging about her sick son, Garnett, may soon face charges in connection with the death of the 5-year-old.

Sources close to the investigation told Fox News on Tuesday that the Westchester County medical examiner ruled Garnetts death a homicide and that the child was given a lethal dose of sodium through his feeding tube.

http://www.ibtimes.com/lacey-spears...son-garnett-great-could-face-criminal-1580758

The investigation remains with the Weschester County District Attorney's office, as well as local police and the Ramapo Police Department. Lucian Chalfen, a spokeman for the D.A., told CBS News that "a shoe will drop" in the case in a month or so.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/lacey-spears-mommy-blogger-garnett_n_5279944.html

Last reports (upthread) state Lacey Spears was living in Kentucky, had retained an attorney, and expects to be arrested. I hope the long wait for an arrest means the case built by investigators and the prosecutor will be solid.

These medical abuse cases really get to me.

Queen Bee · Jun 17, 2014

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rest in peace garnett :heartbeat::rose:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/17/lacey-spears-indicted-garnett-spears/10685043/

A woman who had chronicled her son's medical woes for years surrendered to authorities Tuesday to face charges of murdering the 5-year-old by poisoning him with sodium in what police say was the final act of a deranged mother who medically abused her child.

Acting on a sealed grand jury indictment, law enforcement Tuesday obtained a warrant to arrest Lacey Spears, a former Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., resident, on a charge of second-degree murder. Her son, Garnett, died Jan. 23 at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y.

ScarlettScarpetta · Jun 17, 2014

I am so glad. That poor baby. She killed that child to make her life more interesting. I am so glad. I hope she gets the book thrown at her.

Lilibet · Jun 17, 2014

Pictures and video from court today. So sad. Poor little Garnett.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/inv...pears-murder-charges-garnett-spears/10665173/

K_Z · Jun 18, 2014

YES!!!

FINALLY an arrest!!!

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/mother-who-documented-sons-illness-charged-with-his-murder

Spears has been charged with depraved murder and manslaughter, and faces up to 25 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.

Garnett, who was hospitalized hundreds of times and underwent invasive surgical procedures, died on Jan 23, according to prosecutors.

His death was ruled a homicide in April.

mrsobrien · Jun 18, 2014

Very glad to see this arrest!

K_Z · Jun 18, 2014

No bail!!

She was ordered held without bail at Westchester County jail and is due back in court July 2.

And they must have filmed or otherwise caught her at the hospital.

Assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd presented the government's case, focusing on Spears' time at Nyack Hospital between Jan. 17 and 19 when, Lloyd said, the mother took Garnett into the hospital room's private bathroom and administered the sodium into a tube in the boy's stomach.

And more-- they have her computer searches.

Lloyd said prosecutors know from computer records that Spears had searched the Internet to research what the effects of salt would be on her son.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/inv...pears-murder-charges-garnett-spears/10665173/

I'm disappointed the charges are "only" second degree, but I'm confident there is enough to convict her of second degree. She is facing 25-50 years.

I'm a day late on the news, but halleluiah! This woman needed to face charges, IMO. So glad the investigators took their time and brought a solid case to the Grand Jury for indictment.

Finally behind bars! A good day for Garnett's memory, and a step toward justice for his murder.

Hoosgirl · Jun 18, 2014

I'm with you ... clearly she researched and premeditated the salt poisoning. I wonder if they weren't sure that she meant to kill him, just make him sick? I wish she were facing a heavier charge, but I am so glad she has been arrested. Justice for Garnett, RIP.

Has anyone seen a copy of the indictment? I tried watching the full video of the arraignment on lohud but my phone kept messing up.

I again commend lohud for its excellent, in-depth reporting on this tragic case.

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LinasK · Jun 19, 2014

I'm just flabbergasted at how many of these kids get G-tubes places solely on the mothers' description of "failure-to-thrive"!!! Don't they weigh these kids? Getting the G-tubes placed are the basis for these mothers to harm their kids, and of course they are allowed to do the feedings!!!:banghead::banghead::banghead:
We saw a very similar situation in the case of Joshua Parker in Oregon. Thank goodness they stopped his mother before she killed him. Her difference is that she was trying to OD him with meds rather than salt, and was pissed that the Home Health nurses wouldn't let her administer them.

K_Z · Jun 19, 2014

For those interested, there was a live chat on lohud (lower Hudson valley) tonight, about the arrest and arraignment of Lacey Spears.

It was about an hour, but an average reader can read it much faster than an hour. Here is a link:

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2014/06/17/live-chat-lacey-spears-arrest/10691713/

Added: There was an anonymous participant who claims to be a friend that offered some interesting information.

Comment at 7:52 from the reporter says she is on suicide watch at Westchester jail.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/inv...-spears-suicide-jail-salt-poisoning/10810421/

A day after surrendering, Lacey Spears is on suicide watch at Westchester County jail, alone and confined to a spare cinderblock cell with no access to the Internet or any personal effects such as pictures of the 5-year-old son she's accused of killing.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, the 26-year-old's shoes have no laces and she's being watched around the clock by a female guard outside her cell in the mental health unit, which holds a half-dozen fellow inmates. Spears also is being monitored by the jail's mental health director, a psychologist, but so far no psychiatric evaluation has been ordered, even as prosecutors think she may have Munchausen by proxy, a rare disorder where a parent sickens a child to gain attention.

K_Z · Jun 19, 2014

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2014/06/18/lacey-spears-investigated-abuse/10750237/

12:04 a.m. EDT June 19, 2014

Florida investigation found evidence of medical neglect and 'intermediate risk.

Three years before she was charged with poisoning her son to death with salt, Lacey Spears was investigated by Florida child welfare authorities after complaints that she was medically neglecting her then 2-year-old son and would slap him till he cried.

"Mom will slap him for no reason as hard as she can. He begins to cry and then she begins to love on him," according to an allegation made to Florida's Department of Children and Families.

GUILTY NY - Garnett Spears, 5, dies of salt poisoning, Chestnut Ridge, 23 Jan 2014

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