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

[wfgodot]

Yikes, this one takes the cake in terms of the feeding tube, of the absent father, of the possibilities over the years for real intervention based on the many hospitalizations, the blog chronicle, the very degree of what had to be serious mental illness on the mother's part....just wow -- red flag city.

Well-reported, but more proactive reporting might have saved this child. Tough call.

 

[nomoresorrow]

What a darn shame - this little man didn't have to die. There were so many red-flags and so many opportunities to intervene. RIP Garnett.

 

[meanmaryjean]

MBP is fascinating. In this case, at least, the irony of a devoted, doting mother who kills her son. I wonder if she did accidentally? Or was it the ultimate attention grabber??

I'd love to hear you share more about your experiences with MBP if you are willing to share!

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Most of my experiences have been with the mother (ALL of mine have been the mother) describing neurological conditions, primarily seizures. Because seizures happen irregularly and are unpredictable, even a child with REAL seizures may never have one witnessed by a medical professional.

As I've said other places, our hospital has several 'rooms with a view' where- with the OK of the health care team, ethics and legal experts - we can observe for MBP signs. We have caught mothers of newborns suffocating their child in order to induce 'apnea episodes' and worse.

In my former jobs, we've interrupted attempts to contaminate IV lines, poisonings (one case was a newborn being fed vodka) and suffocations.

99% of the time, I love my job. It's the other 1% that wears me down.....

 

[Hoosgirl]

Most of my experiences have been with the mother (ALL of mine have been the mother) describing neurological conditions, primarily seizures. Because seizures happen irregularly and are unpredictable, even a child with REAL seizures may never have one witnessed by a medical professional.

As I've said other places, our hospital has several 'rooms with a view' where- with the OK of the health care team, ethics and legal experts - we can observe for MBP signs. We have caught mothers of newborns suffocating their child in order to induce 'apnea episodes' and worse.

In my former jobs, we've interrupted attempts to contaminate IV lines, poisonings (one case was a newborn being fed vodka) and suffocations.

99% of the time, I love my job. It's the other 1% that wears me down.....

Oh my word. That is just horrific.

I had no idea. MBP must be more common than I ever realized!

Those poor, poor children.

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[Lovejac]

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

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.

 

[tlcya]

from lovejac's link

"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."

 

[fearless]

so sad
breaks my heart

 

[1&2&3]

This darling little boy with such an evil mom! It is beyond me how anyone can mistreat their child like this!

We have this case where child services didn't get involved then we have the case where Boston Children's Hospital and MA child services go to the opposite end and take custody away from the parents. One child is dead and one child has been locked in a psych ward for too many months. Something needs to be done to help these innocent children! Then there is the Kate Parker case who was medically abusing her children too.

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!

 

[sonicfanaticsmommy]

MBP isn't something that I know much about, but my god, how incredibly heartbreaking. Poor sweet, beautiful Garnett knew nothing in his life other than fear of death, panic, and pain. It's just horrible. His mother should be punished to the full extent for what she did to him, if it turns out that she did cause his illnesses and death.

I am very empathetic when it comes to mental illness, bc I am bipolar and have had some really hard times due to that, but IMO mental disorders are no excuse for killing someone. Garnett's death happened slowly over a long period of time, possibly perpetuated by his mother. If you can premeditate something so sinister, you are able to know right from wrong.

My son had a febrile seizure at 15 mo old. I will never forget how heartbroken and terrified I was, seeing him in a hospital bed connected to all sorts of tubes and wires. It was devastating. Thankfully, that is the only seizure he has ever had, and has been an overall healthy kid ever since. How any parent would intentionally cause their child to be in that position is beyond me. It makes me want to cry thinking about it. RIP Garnett, I am so sorry.

 

[Hoosgirl]

Garnett's death a homicide, sources say:

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/04/30/garnett-spears-death-homicide/8511635/

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[Hoosgirl]

So sad ... Garnett's last request to neighbor (the same one asked to remove feeding bag):

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/2014/04/30/garnetts-last-request-haunts-neighbor/8541261/

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[K_Z]

I think an arrest may be coming very soon.

Did Mommy Blogger Lacey Spears Poison Her 5-Year-Old Son For Attention?
Posted: 05/07/2014

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

Lacey Spears, Blogger Mom Who May Have Poisoned Son, 'Garnett The Great,' Could Face Criminal Charges

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.

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

 

[K_Z]

Garnett Spears' last days: 'Something is not right here'

Friends share shocking new details about the time Lacey Spears spent with her dying son at Nyack Hospital and Westchester Medical Center.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2014/05/08/garnett-spears-last-days/8856377/

Includes links to a 5 part series chronicling the life of Garnett Spears.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

What is taking so long. Please... don't let her get away with this.

 

[kimi_SFC]

This is the 5th and final installment of the five part series "Losing Garnett the Great"

I've posted the other four episode links upthread.

Listen Here:

http://www.lohud.com/videos/news/2014/03/26/6939289/


:rose: :candle: :rose:

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[HMSHood]

Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy, another word for extreme narcissism. :crazy:

 

[nursebeeme]

Just read the blog. Long hair is perfectly fine but something is off to me was she trying to dress him like a girl? Poor little man!!

 

[K_Z]

I was interested to read more about the Rockland Fellowship community Lacey and Garnett moved to in New York, from Florida. It's an interesting concept for a communal lifestyle-- the centerpiece is a fully licensed nursing home facility. Residents of the cooperative are workers in the nursing facility, as well as the farms and gardens that sustain the cooperative. Lacey and Garnett were there about 18 months before Garnett died.

There is a K-12 Waldorf school on property, as well as a preschool. The Fellowship was started in 1966, and the founder recently passed away.

Today, 70 senior citizens and 60 adults and children live and work together at the property off Hungry Hollow Road, which includes a farm, weavery and pottery shop.

The Fellowship has been in the spotlight recently as police probe the death of a 5-year-old former resident, Garnett Spears. The death has been ruled a homicide and a criminal investigation remains focused on his mother, Lacey Spears.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/loc...-rocklands-fellowship-community-dies/8533223/

Link to the Fellowship website. Looks like a wonderful communal living situation. Not for everyone, obviously, but for the people who choose that lifestyle, it's a great alternative to traditional nursing homes. It appears to be a very supportive community for younger people, or families with kids who have disabilities or difficulties. I don't get the sense at all that it is "cult-like" or anything. Nothing appears coercive, and residents are paid a salary, etc. Says it is 30 miles outside NYC-- amazing!

http://www.fellowshipcommunity.org/

 

[badhorsie]

If this is true then it is making me sick. I have just watched all the videos. As someone whose baby son died of natural causes, I would like to shake the out of her. Is she arrested yet?

 

[K_Z]

Lacey hasn't been arrested yet, but the news reports linked above give clues as to when that might happen. Early in May a report said authorities expect "the other shoe to drop" in a month-- which implies that early in June they anticipate an arrest. Lacey is no longer in New York.

Spears, who is staying with family in Kentucky, has not been charged and has denied doing anything to harm her son, though she recently told a close friend, Jessica Lee Kyle, that she expects to be arrested. Spears' lawyer declined to comment on the ruling.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/04/30/garnett-spears-death-homicide/8511635/

It isn't unusual for there to be an interval of months between when the child was abused/ died, and an arrest, in medical child abuse cases. Another case that is in progress, Kate Parker, in Oregon, was arrested more than 6 months after her children were removed from her care. (There is a Websleuths thread for Kate Parker's case in the Parking Lot forum.)

In three relatively recent Texas cases of medical child abuse (Laurie Williamson, Emily Beth McDonald, and Kimberly Sue Austin), there were months of investigation before arrests were made. All three of those women are serving long prison sentences (15 to 99 years).

There is another recent notorious case of salt poisoning, Andrew Burd, age 4. He was poisoned by his foster mother, Hannah Overton.

In 2007, Overton, now 35, was handed a sentence of life in prison for the 2006 salt poisoning death of a 4-year-old she was trying to adopt, Andrew Burd. But in the years since her conviction, questions have been raised about whether prosecutors were overzealous in their efforts to convict Overton, failing to present the jury with expert testimony and evidence that might have made a difference in the outcome of the trial.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-mom-...ng-death-accuses-prosecutor/story?id=17183938

Hannah Overton is still appealing her sentence. This is from Oct 31, 2013:

http://www.kristv.com/news/court-of-criminal-appeals-to-review-hannah-overton-conviction/

And this "Free Hannah" website has the court documents from April 2014 appeal. As this was a salt poisoning case, there is much to be gleaned from HO's case that may be applicable to any future prosecution of Lacey Spears.

http://freehannah.com/index.php/new...ns-to-findings-of-fact-and-conclusions-of-law