Unnamed girl - newborn / Not guilty by reason of insanity: Mother; Tonya Mckee - Bloomington, IL

Woman who tried to kill baby not guilty by reason of insanity


October 04, 2012 12:33 pm  •  By Edith Brady-Lunny eblunny@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON — A woman accused of attempting to kill her baby shortly after giving birth at a homeless shelter was found not guilty by reason of insanity Thursday and returned to a Springfield mental health facility.

Tonya McKee, 38, was charged with attempted murder in September 2011 after police found her newborn daughter in a toilet at Home Sweet Home Ministries’ Billy Shelper Center where she had been living.

McKee suffers from Hungtington’s disease, an incurable neurological disorder that severely impacts mental and physical functions. Walking into court with an unsteady gait, McKee sat in a chair for Thursday’s hearing and looked through papers in a folder she carried in with her.

A Nov. 5 hearing is scheduled to determine which services and facility will best serve McKee’s needs. She has been receiving treatment at McFarland Mental Health Center for several months.

Several members of McKee’s family have died of Huntington’s disease, including her father and a sister. A second sister currently is battling the illness.

After the hearing, defense lawyer Carla Barnes said McKee’s medical condition left her unfit to stand trial. The not guilty by reason of insanity ruling --  made with the state’s cooperation -- was the best conclusion for the case, Barnes said.

“The determination means Tonya gets the help she needs for the disease she’s been suffering from for several years — that was everyone’s concern. This was the best and most logical outcome,” said Barnes.

The baby girl survived and has been living with a Bloomington foster family.



I remember this story but never posted it.  I was glad to here that the little girl survived despite being put in a toilet and is now in a loving home.  At least the little girl gets some justice and a chance for a happy full life.

William

I wish the judge would order her to be sterilized because she should definately not have any more precious children and endanger their lives.

Baby found in Bloomington shelter's toilet; mom charged with attempted murder



By Edith Brady-Lunny | eblunny@pantagraph.com pantagraph.com


September 27, 2011 2:00 pm  •  By Edith Brady-Lunny | eblunny@pantagraph.com





BLOOMINGTON -- A woman living at a local homeless shelter who allegedly told other residents she needed a doctor Sunday because she had aborted her baby was charged Tuesday with attempted murder.

Tonya McKee, 37, must post $50,025 to be released on the charges accusing her of putting her newborn daughter in a toilet.

According to a probable-cause statement read by Assistant State's Attorney Sheila Duncan in court Tuesday, a resident of Home Sweet Home Ministries' Billy Shelper Center called 911 around 4 a.m. Sunday after McKee said she had aborted a baby in a bathroom of the shelter.

When police arrived, they found the suspect in the shower of a blood-soaked bathroom.

McKee told officers she had "just aborted her baby" but did not respond to their questions about where the baby was located, said Duncan. The infant was found submerged in a toilet nearly full of bloody water.

"When the officer removed the baby from the toilet, the toilet emptied as if someone had tried to flush it but the baby itself had clogged the toilet," said the statement.

The child is in stable condition at a Peoria hospital where she was transferred from Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, Normal, Duncan said in court.

According to police, McKee gave several explanations for allegedly putting her baby in the toilet and leaving her there for up to 10 minutes, including that she was unaware she had given birth. She later said she knew the baby had been born "but she left the baby in the toilet because there was a lot of blood on the baby and she didn't want to touch the blood or the baby," said police.

McKee also claimed she didn't know the baby was in the toilet because she wasn't wearing her glasses, according to police.

An Oct.7 arraignment is scheduled for McKee.



At least the little angel is alive.  She would be a year old now.

William

B-N baby abandonment may be first case in Ill. this year


September 27, 2011 6:01 pm • By Edith Brady-Lunny | eblunny@pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON -- The report of a newborn baby found by police in a toilet Sunday at a Bloomington homeless shelter was the first apparent abandonment of a baby in more than a year in Illinois.

Tonya McKee, the mother of the baby girl born in a bathroom at a Home Sweet Home Ministries' Billy Shelper Center had other options under the state's Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act, according to Dawn Geras, spokeswoman for Save Abandoned Babies, a Chicago-based volunteer group.

"Her option should have been to hand over her baby girl to any hospital, police or fire station -- with no questions asked," said Geras.

The law allows parents who cannot care for babies 30 days old or younger to take the child to medical or emergency personnel without legal consequences. The child is then turned over to the state Department of Children and Family Services for adoption.

Save Abandoned Babies has offered to provide the Bloomington shelter with information on the safe haven law for infants. Sabrina Burkowitz, spokeswoman for Home Sweet Home Ministries, said Tuesday that staff at the shelter will review the materials and determine if it will be a resource for clients.

Burkowitz said confidentiality laws and the pending police investigation keep her from commenting on the recent incident but she did acknowledge that the facility is accustomed to dealing with mothers in all stages of pregnancy.

"The mothers meet with case managers who make sure they have prenatal care and access to resources," said Burkowitz. Women who are without a partner during their pregnancy are linked with a doula, a professional trained in childbirth.

Geras said she is unaware of any other case of illegal abandonment at a homeless shelter. The last case of any illegal abandonment reported in Illinois occurred in Marion on Aug. 10, 2010, she said.

Since the state law was passed in 2001, 30 of the 62 children illegally left by their parents have died.




I posted this becasue of the last sentence. This was as of Sept 2011 but 30 out of 62 kids died since 2001 due to illegally dumping children. When state law gives them an out. That's just... I don't have room for the words.

William





Ava’s Rules

Always lock your car and store your keys out of kids reach.

Verify your children know to NEVER go to the car unsupervised.

Actively seek out sheltered locations to park your car.



Will’s rules

NEVER assume where your child is, KNOW.
NEVER assume your child is NOT in the car LOOK.
NEVER leave your child ALONE for one second, NEVER.

NEVER assume your child is safe, KNOW.

NEVER leave your child alone with a pet, NEVER

Large dogs and little kids DON’T mix.

Keep your medicine locked AWAY from your child.

I have nothing but contempt for you Mr. Carney. You make judgements about people who you know nothing about. I knew Tonya. She's a good person with a terrible disease. I was friends with her briefly during the span of few months that we lived in the same city. Then, she was an intelligent, caring, vivacious person. She told me that Huntington's disease ran in her family, but she had been tested and she did not have it. I lost touch with her when we moved to different parts of the country. Several years later she contacted me asking for help. Her e-mails were incoherent and paranoid. I sent her some money and asked her to get help. I did not hear from her again. Several months later she was arrested. I turned out that she did have Huntington's disease. She had been given the wrong test results when she was tested before. There are few diseases that are worse than having Huntington's, you slowly lose control of your mind and body. You lose touch with reality, as your nervous system degenerates. It is something no one, even you Mr. Carney, should have to go through. I found out later how desperate her situation had been, she was homeless and living in shelters. It breaks my heart to think about how she might have gotten pregnant. She had several brushes with the law before here last arrest. We failed her, and her baby, the courts, law enforcement, social services, religious organizations, her friends, her family and myself. She was a person with an incurable, degenerative, congenital disease. In the last days before her arrest it would have been obvious she needed help. She should have been in a hospital where they could have given her some help with her disease and her pregnancy, or at least protected her. Instead she was in a homeless shelter. Next time Mr. Carney do some research before you judge, or better yet refrain from judging others altogether.

Mr. Wolf, I cannot speak for Mr. Carney, but there is NO excuse for killing a child. So before you come on this message board taking up for a child killer, you might want to think again. We are here for the children that are abused and killed by the people who are suppose to take care of them, not to make excuses for killers.

Excuses? Do you know ANYTHING about Huntington's disease? Obviously not. We are not talking about a person with a "compulsion" to abuse children. We are not talking about a person who attempted to kill a child because it was not convenient to get them to a hospital. We are not talking about a person who abused a child while on drugs. For those people there is not a pit of hell deep enough. Huntington's disease had left her completely out of touch with reality. Tonya did not know she was pregnant. She was not sure where she was. She did not recognize her baby as a baby. Her mind was gone, through no fault of her own, but because of a genetic condition she had been told that she did not have. This is the moral equivalent of someone who has a heart attack while driving a car, loses control of the vehicle, and hits a child, Would that be their fault? It is tragic for the child, but it is not Tonya's fault. It is the fault of those who knew there was a problem and did nothing. There is no excuse for KNOWINGLY killing a child. Tonya had no idea what was happening or why. If you really cannot make that distinction, you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Abe Wolf wrote:Excuses? Do you know ANYTHING about Huntington's disease? Obviously not. We are not talking about a person with a "compulsion" to abuse children. We are not talking about a person who attempted to kill a child because it was not convenient to get them to a hospital. We are not talking about a person who abused a child while on drugs. For those people there is not a pit of hell deep enough. Huntington's disease had left her completely out of touch with reality. Tonya did not know she was pregnant. She was not sure where she was. She did not recognize her baby as a baby. Her mind was gone, through no fault of her own, but because of a genetic condition she had been told that she did not have. This is the moral equivalent of someone who has a heart attack while driving a car, loses control of the vehicle, and hits a child, Would that be their fault? It is tragic for the child, but it is not Tonya's fault. It is the fault of those who knew there was a problem and did nothing. There is no excuse for KNOWINGLY killing a child. Tonya had no idea what was happening or why. If you really cannot make that distinction, you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

If you had so much prior knowledge of this woman's problems then why didn't you step up to the plate and save this child. Sounds to me like you're making excuses for your own lack of action also.

I do hold myself partially responsible, and had I known then what I know now I would have done much more to help her. But it is not nearly as simple as you make it out to be. I had last seen Tonya six years before her arrest. She was a normal person then. I got e-mails from her every couple years. I knew she was having problems finding and holding down jobs. I sent her money a few times, but we were five time zones apart by then, I was in no position to go in person to help her. Though her e-mails were becoming more paranoid, I attributed that to the stress of living in homeless shelters. She had been tested for Huntington's disease and had been told that she did not have the gene for it, but a test conducted after her arrest would show that she did have the gene. I received the last e-mails from her about six months before her arrest, she seemed to be doing better, and said she might have a job soon. She asked for an amount of money that I could not afford, I told her I could send part of the money, but I never heard from her again. A person with Huntington's has good days and bad days (like people with other degenerative neurological conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's) I suspect that her last e-mails were written on one of her good days. She did not say she was pregnant and I did not know about that until I saw the article about her arrest.

A person with Alzheimer's caring for a baby is a comparable situation to Tonya's. Suppose someone were to hand a baby to a person with advanced Alzheimer's and tell them that they would come back in the next day. Maybe the child would be alright, but there is a high probability that the person with Alzheimer's would forget about the child and a tragedy would take place. Would that be the fault of the Alzheimer's patient or the person who gave them the child? By your logic the Alzheimer's patient would be guilty of child abuse.

The larger point is this: Though I no longer consider myself a christian, there are some parts of the bible that I always try to remember. And the most important of those is "Judge not lest you be judged." The people saying that Tonya is a child killer who should be sterilized should remember this.

"Judge not lest you be judged."
I am a Christian, so you can't thump your bible louder than me!
I will always defend the integrity of  the members of this forum. We are volunteers and activist. You can't begin to understand the frustration we feel.
Obviously you were greatly affected by this particular case. Let
this be your inspiration to try and make a difference.
All of the adults who knew of this child's plight failed.

Sometimes I am quick to judge.  But we are here to give voices to the one's that no longer have voices.  The children.  God will judge us all in the end and I will gladly say to him yes, I was quick to judge and I'm sorry that it was wrong in some cases but I was speaking for the children. It was for them, the one's without voices.  If the moderators don't like my posts they can tell me and I won't post any more.  I will gladly leave this site.  

I have not heard more about Tonya, I do hope she gets the mental treatment she needs.  

I have not heard any more about the baby. How is it doing?

William

I do want to apologize about saying she should be sterilized. That was uncalled for in her case. I generally have that feeling for child rapist. William

Abe Wolf wrote:I have nothing but contempt for you Mr. Carney. You make judgements about people who you know nothing about. I knew Tonya. She's a good person with a terrible disease. I was friends with her briefly during the span of few months that we lived in the same city. Then, she was an intelligent, caring, vivacious person. She told me that Huntington's disease ran in her family, but she had been tested and she did not have it. I lost touch with her when we moved to different parts of the country. Several years later she contacted me asking for help. Her e-mails were incoherent and paranoid. I sent her some money and asked her to get help. I did not hear from her again. Several months later she was arrested. I turned out that she did have Huntington's disease. She had been given the wrong test results when she was tested before. There are few diseases that are worse than having Huntington's, you slowly lose control of your mind and body. You lose touch with reality, as your nervous system degenerates. It is something no one, even you Mr. Carney, should have to go through. I found out later how desperate her situation had been, she was homeless and living in shelters. It breaks my heart to think about how she might have gotten pregnant. She had several brushes with the law before here last arrest. We failed her, and her baby, the courts, law enforcement, social services, religious organizations, her friends, her family and myself. She was a person with an incurable, degenerative, congenital disease. In the last days before her arrest it would have been obvious she needed help. She should have been in a hospital where they could have given her some help with her disease and her pregnancy, or at least protected her. Instead she was in a homeless shelter. Next time Mr. Carney do some research before you judge, or better yet refrain from judging others altogether.

You attack Mr Carney for expressing an opinion.  Why didn't you instead explain the things you think people should know about this woman?

Most people on here despise child abusers.  With the thousands and thousands of abused and murdered children we post about how can you expect us to research each and every one before we have an opinion?  Even if we did research them we would not know the type of information you posted. 

This woman had enough mental clarity to murder her baby, the one you claim she didn't know she was pregnant with.

She should be sterilized.

BTW have you ever heard of paragraphs?  They make reading a lengthy post much easier.