GARNETT SPEARS - 5 yo (1/2014) - / Convicted: Mother; Lacey Spears - White Plains NY

Mom charged with murder after son's disturbing death

Shawn Cohen, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News
4:52 p.m. EDT June 17, 2014



WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — 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.

Spears, 26, has been staying with her parents in Kentucky but returned here. Her lawyer, David Sachs, went with her to surrender to police.

The grand jury's vote concluded a two-week presentation from prosecutors, who presented their case based on months of investigation in New York, Florida and Alabama, where Spears and her son lived; and Tennessee, where they visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Capt. Christopher Calabrese, commander of the Westchester County Police Detective Division, said the investigation involved hundreds of interviews and the analysis of tens of thousands of pages of medical records by Ramapo, N.Y., and Westchester County detectives and the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

"This is a very sad day for everyone, but it is a day for justice — justice for the betrayal of the intimate trust between a mother and child, justice for a mother's continual abuse and death of her innocent child for her own selfish psychological needs and financial gain, justice for Garnett," Calabrese said.

Authorities suspect the single mother, who was a constant presence on social media sharing stories of Garnett's medical crises, may have poisoned the little boy three times: once before he experienced seizures that sent him Jan. 17 to Nyack Hospital, again on Jan. 19 at Nyack when his sodium level spiked and he had to be flown to Valhalla; and a third time at Maria Fareri hospital after a doctor confronted Spears.

As Garnett lay dying in the hospital, a Chestnut Ridge neighbor said Spears called and told her to dispose of a bag that Spears used to feed the boy through a tube in his abdomen. Police later recovered the bag which tested positive for extremely high levels of sodium.

The homicide case may be one of the first in the era of social media involving Munchausen by proxy, a psychiatric disorder in which a parent sickens a child to garner sympathy.

Spears, who was living with Garnett in the secluded Fellowship Community when the alleged crime occurred, has denied harming her son. She faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge.

The charges relate to Garnett's death, but authorities suspect Spears subjected him to past medical abuse, fueled by attention on Facebook, Twitter and blog posts. She presented herself as a doting mother caring for a son who had been in and out of hospitals his entire life.

In a Facebook post in November 2009, she wrote that Garnett was back in the hospital again, his 23rd hospital visit in his first year.

The investigation began in January while Garnett was still alive when doctors at Maria Fareri alerted police that the boy's sodium level had spiked to suspiciously high levels.

Witnesses told The Journal News that they saw a doctor at Maria Fareri confront Spears the night of Jan. 19, shortly after she and her son arrived there on an emergency helicopter flight from Nyack. The doctor told her it was "metabolically impossible" for her son's body to produce such extreme levels and that "something isn't right."

At Maria Fareri, Spears continued to sleep in Garnett's room and had unmonitored access to him in the room's attached bathroom, sources said. Nyack Hospital had a similar setup.

Not until the following morning, Jan. 21 — after Garnett's condition worsened and he "coded" — did medical staff notified the state's child-abuse hotline, prompting police and the district attorney's office to get involved. The boy was taken life support and declared dead Jan. 23.

In April, the Westchester Medical Examiner ruled Garnett's death a homicide, and detectives have focused on Lacey Spears from the start. Even before the boy's death, they seized food, her cellphone and a computer from her home at the Fellowship Community and confiscated the feeding bag Spears was so concerned about that she contacted her neighbor from the hospital.

A second Fellowship neighbor reported seeing Spears feed Garnett through his tube Jan. 17, shortly before a seizure sent him to Nyack Hospital. That version of events contradicted Spears' claim to others that she hadn't fed him through the tube for at least a week.

Both neighbors testified before the grand jury.

Westchester County police; Ramapo, N.Y., police; and the district attorney's office also have secured medical records and video surveillance from Nyack and Maria Fareri hospitals and statements from medical staff and friends who accompanied Spears at both hospitals.

Investigators have dug into Spears' 14 months at the Fellowship and the time she spent in Alabama and Florida, poring over medical reports and interviewing friends, hospitals and social-service agencies that have fielded calls in the past about Spears' parenting.

Police have spoken to members of a parenting group in Spears' former home of Clearwater, Fla., where she'd share tearful stories about raising a sickly son whose father she claimed died in a crash. One member contacted that state's Department of Children and Families in 2011, one of several times Spears was reported to child-welfare authorities.

However, none of the reports resulted in action to remove Garnett from her care.

Spears, who repeatedly sought treatment for Garnett's severe ear infections and purported digestive problems, told friends that her son needed to be fed via tube because he would go days without eating and was a "failure to thrive" case, a diagnosis for children defined by inadequate weight gain.

But those same friends saw him eat solid foods routinely. To them, Garnett — sporting a gap-toothed smile and long blond hair — appeared happy and healthy.

During Garnett's final hospital stay at Maria Fareri, Spears took to Facebook frequently, pleading for prayers as she posted pictures of her son on life support, noting that the pain in his head was making him scream out loud.

Then, on Jan. 23, Spears posted a final Facebook declaration: "Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m."

Initially flooded with condolences, support for Spears diminished as friends learned about the investigation and stories from her past: that her frequent emergency-room visits raised eyebrows among medical staff, that she misrepresented herself as the mother of a child she babysat and that she had lied about Garnett's father.

He was not a police officer who died in a crash. He is a garage-door installer still living in Alabama.

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

Lacey Spears pleads not guilty of murder in son's death

By Shawn Cohen and Peter D. Kramer
9:10 a.m. EDT June 18, 2014

Mom being held without bail at the Westchester County jail. Police say she poisoned her son with sodium through a feeding tube in his abdomen.

His killing, police said, was the final act of a deranged mother who, fueled by attention on social media, medically tortured her child for years.

Lacey Spears pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and manslaughter charges in the poisoning death of her five-year-old son, Garnett. She was ordered held without bail at Westchester County jail and is due back in court July 2.

The only words the 26-year-old Alabama native uttered in state Supreme Court in White Plains were "Yes, sir," when Justice Barry Warhit asked if she was Lacey Spears.

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.

"This mother was intentionally feeding her son salt in toxic levels," Lloyd said.

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.

Earlier in the day, Spears' head was bowed as she walked into the back door of Westchester County Police headquarters in Hawthorne, escorted by detectives. Her father, Terry, had his arm around her as she solemnly surrendered. After being processed -- and having her mug shot taken -- Spears left the headquarters silently, not answering reporters' questions before getting into the back of a black, unmarked police car and speeding off.

Acting on a sealed grand jury indictment, law enforcement on Tuesday obtained a warrant to arrest the former Chestnut Ridge resident on a charge of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 23 death of her son, Garnett, at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, sources said. The murder charge does not accuse her of intentionally killing her son but of acting with depraved indifference toward his life. Spears, 26, who had been staying with her parents in Kentucky, had returned to Westchester and was accompanied by her attorney, David Sachs.

The grand jury's vote concluded a two-week presentation from prosecutors, who based their case on months of investigation in New York, Florida and Alabama -- where Spears and her son lived -- and Tennessee, where they visited Vanderbilt University Hospital.

Capt. Christopher Calabrese, commander of the Westchester County Police Detective Division, said the investigation involved hundreds of interviews and the analysis of tens of thousands of pages of medical records by Westchester and Ramapo detectives and the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

"This is a very sad day for everyone, but it is a day for justice," Calabrese said. "Justice for the betrayal of the intimate trust between a mother and child, justice for a mother's continual abuse and death of her innocent child for her own selfish psychological needs and financial gain; justice for Garnett."

Authorities suspect the single mother, who was a constant presence on social media sharing stories of Garnett's medical crises, may have poisoned the little boy at least twice; once before he experienced seizures that sent him to Nyack Hospital Jan. 17 and again on Jan. 19 at Nyack when his sodium level spiked and he had to be flown to Valhalla.

As Garnett lay dying in the hospital, a Chestnut Ridge neighbor said Spears called and told her to dispose of a bag Spears used to feed the boy through a tube. Police later recovered the bag which had extremely high levels of sodium.

The homicide case may be one of the first involving Munchausen by proxy – a psychiatric disorder in which a parent sickens a child to garner sympathy – in the era of social media.

Spears was living with Garnett in the secluded Fellowship Community when the alleged crime occurred. She faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge and up to 25 years for manslaughter.

The reaction in Spears' hometown of Decatur, Ala., was swift.

Former nurse Ginger Dabbs-Anderson, who first met Spears and Garnett when the boy was six months old, was grateful for the action, but remorseful that it came too late to save Garnett, who friends called "G."

"I'm happy they got her and I do believe that she's had this problem for years and that he's been suffering at her hands. I really wish we could have prevented this because there were signs.

"Maybe the hospitals should have caught it, maybe her parents should have caught it, maybe those people closest to her should have caught it. She put all over Facebook how wonderful she was. She had us all snowed, she had us all believing she was wonderful. But obviously not."

The former nurse was not surprised to learn that officials suspect Spears may suffer a psychological disorder.

"I don't care if it is a case of Munchausen by Proxy. I think she should get whatever it is anyone else who murders someone gets."

Shawna Lynch, who knew Spears before Garnett was born and initially defended her, said: "I cried. It broke my heart but thank God they're finally going to get justice for G. I just hope she gets what she deserves. I know G's not coming back, but at least we'll have justice for him."

At the Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge, people were saddened at the mention of Spears and her son.

"There has to be some way where this isn't true," said one woman who wished not to be named.

Another Fellowship member said she couldn't reconcile the Spears she knew with the one in court on Tuesday.

"I don't see her as a murderer," the woman said. "I think (it was) sickness and I think a lot of things happen to us in our lives that are tragic and make us seek this kind of grief or sympathy that she was looking for. We all do it in different ways. I think it was really wrong of course, and I think it was terrible and all I can do is pray for her."

The charges relate to Garnett's death, but authorities suspect Spears subjected him to past medical abuse, fueled by attention on Facebook, Twitter and blog posts. She presented herself as a doting mother caring for a son who'd been in and out of hospitals his entire life. In a Facebook post in November 2009, she wrote that Garnett was back in the hospital again, his 23rd hospital visit in his first year.

The investigation began in January, while Garnett was still alive, when doctors at Maria Fareri alerted police that the boy's sodium level had spiked to suspiciously high levels.

Witnesses told The Journal News they saw a doctor at Maria Fareri confront Spears the night of Jan. 19, shortly after she and her son arrived there on an emergency helicopter flight from Nyack. The doctor told her it was "metabolically impossible" for her son's body to produce such extreme levels, and that "something isn't right."

At Maria Fareri, Spears continued to sleep in Garnett's room and had unmonitored access to him in the room's attached bathroom, sources said. There was a similar setup at Nyack Hospital.

The boy was alert and talking on the night of Jan. 20 when friends visited him and Spears in his hospital room. One friend recalled the 5-year-old pleading with her: "Don't leave me."

It wasn't until the following morning, Jan. 21 — after Garnett's condition worsened and he "coded" — that the medical staff notified the state's child-abuse hotline, prompting police and the district attorney's office to get involved. The boy was taken off life support and declared dead Jan. 23.

In April, the Westchester Medical Examiner ruled Garnett's death a homicide, and detectives have focused on Lacey Spears from the start. Even before the boy's death, they seized food, her cellphone and computer from her home at the Fellowship Community and confiscated the feeding bag Spears was so concerned about that she contacted her neighbor from the hospital.

A second Fellowship neighbor reported seeing Spears feed Garnett through his tube Jan. 17, shortly before a seizure sent him to Nyack Hospital. That version of events contradicted Spears' claim to others that she hadn't fed him through the tube for at least a week.

Both neighbors testified before the grand jury.

Westchester County police, Ramapo police and the district attorney's office have also secured medical records and video surveillance from Nyack and Maria Fareri, and statements from medical staff and friends who accompanied Spears at both hospitals.

Investigators have dug into Spears' 14 months at the Fellowship and the time she spent in Alabama and Florida, poring over medical reports and interviewing friends, hospitals and social-service agencies that have fielded calls in the past about Spears' parenting.

Police have also spoken to members of a parenting group in Spears' former community of Clearwater, Fla., where she'd share tearful stories about raising a sickly son whose father she claimed died in a crash. One member contacted that state's Department of Children and Families in 2011, one of several times Spears was reported to child-welfare authorities.

None of the reports, however, resulted in action to remove Garnett from her care.

Spears, who repeatedly sought treatment for Garnett's severe ear infections and purported digestive problems, told friends her son needed to be tube-fed because he'd go days without eating and was a "failure to thrive" case, a diagnosis for children defined by inadequate weight gain.

But those same friends saw him eat solid foods routinely. To them, Garnett – sporting a gap-toothed smile and long blond hair – appeared happy and healthy.

During the final hospital stay at Maria Fareri, Spears took to Facebook frequently, pleading for prayers as she posted pictures of her son on life support, noting that the pain in his head was making him scream out loud in pain.

Then, on Jan. 23, Spears posted a final Facebook declaration: "Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m."

Initially flooded with condolences, support for Spears diminished as friends learned about the investigation and stories from her past: that her frequent emergency-room visits raised eyebrows among medical staff; that she misrepresented herself as the mother of a child she babysat; and that she'd lied about Garnett's father. He was not a police officer who died in a crash; he is a garage-door installer still living in Alabama.

Staff writers Jonathan Bandler, Greg Shillinglaw and Frank Becerra Jr. contributed to this report.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2014/06/17/lacey-spears-murder-charges-garnett-spears/10665173/

Mommy blogger charged with poisoning son on suicide watch


Lacey Spears, 26, did not appear Wednesday in the White Plains courtroom for her murder trial because she was on suicide watch in the forensic unit of a nearby jail.

BY Michael Walsh
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, July 17, 2014, 10:53 AM




Facebook Lacey Spears (left) was not in court Wednesday to attend a hearing in her murder trial. Facebook Lacey Spears, seen with her son, blogged about their life together. Facebook The 26-year-old pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder charges related to the death of her son. Facebook The mother posted several photos to her blog about life with Garnett.


The mommy blogger who is accused of fatally poisoning her 5-year-old son with salt is reportedly on suicide watch in a New York jail.

Lacey Spears, 26, is in the forensic unit of a Westchester County Jail where she is being held without bail on second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges, according to local media.

The suspect did not attend a hearing in her murder trial in White Plains on Wednesday. Instead, her sister, Rebecca Spears, was there to "support her sister," the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.

Rebecca Spears did not say anything in the courtroom or to reporters before getting into the lawyer's SUV and driving off.

AP Lacey Spears, 26, is accused of giving her 5-year-old son fatal doses of salt.

The defendant's lawyer, David Sachs, entreated the public to keep an open mind during throughout the court proceedings, according to the paper.

"Despite the widespread attention the case has received over the past several months, we continue to trust that the people will keep an open mind and not judge Lacey or the facts of the case from what's been reported," Sachs' partner, Stephen Riebling, said at the hearing.

Sachs said Spears, who pleaded not guilty to the charges on June 17, did not harm her boy Garnett and is grieving the loss.

Garnett died on Jan. 23 at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y.

The next court date was set for Oct. 13.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mommy-blogger-suicide-watch-jail-article-1.1870359#ixzz37koCnRTo

'Mommy Blogger' Accused Of Poisoning Son Blames Child For His Own Death

The Huffington Post    | By Simon McCormack  


Posted:  09/29/2014 2:46 pm EDT


An upstate New York mom accused of killing her 5-year-old son says the child may be responsible for his own death, according to prosecutors.

The Journal News reports that Lacey Spears told prosecutors her son, Garnett, could have put sodium chloride into his own feeding tube and that might have been what killed him in January at a hospital in Valhalla.

Spears who blogged about her son's health struggles was investigated earlier this year and charged with murder and manslaughter.

The Journal News also reports that investigators believe Spears poisoned Garnett repeatedly over the course of four days during trips to the hospital's bathroom.

In June, assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd said in court that Spears had also searched the Internet to study what effects large amounts of salt would have on the boy.

Earlier news reports said prosecutors might argue the case was an example of Munchhausen syndrome by proxy, a psychiatric disorder in which a parent sickens a child for sympathy.

Spears' lawyers filed a motion to have her confession suppressed because, they say, it was given involuntarily.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/lacey-spears_n_5901726.html

A woman who would murder her own child is capable of anything.

Mom on trial accused of killing 5-year-old son with salt

Published January 26, 2015
Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. –  A confounding and heartbreaking murder case alleging that a mother purposely poisoned her 5-year-old son with salt and documented his decline on social media began Monday in the New York suburbs.

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.

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

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, she 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.

In rulings delivered last week, Lacey 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."

Spears, originally from Decatur, Alabama, was living in Chestnut Ridge, New York, at the time of Garnett's death. She moved to Kentucky before her arrest in June and has been jailed since then. A man who says he is Garnett's father lives in Alabama.

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.

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."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/26/mom-on-trial-accused-killing-5-year-old-son-with-salt/

Lacey Spears juror: 'All the evidence was there'
JUROR EXPLAINS HOW PANEL FOUND LACEY SPEARS GUILTY OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER

Lee Higgins and Hoa Nguyen, htnguyen@lohud.com

t wasn't easy for a jury to convict Lacey Spears of second-degree murder in the death of her 5-year-old son. But after they were finished reviewing all of the evidence, they all agreed the 27-year-old former Chestnut Ridge mother was guilty, a juror told The Journal News on Monday.

"Nothing was done right away — we had that woman's life in our hands," said Michael Brown of Mount Vernon. "There was a lot of discussion. Nobody came in saying she's guilty... She was innocent to me until the end.

Spears showed little reaction as the verdict was read. Her father, Terry, and her sister, Rebecca, who were in court, held each other. They declined to comment afterward.

The charge was the most serious available to the jury. They also had the option of first-degree manslaughter. Second-degree murder carries a minimum penalty of 15 years to life in prison, and a maximum of 25 years to life.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary set sentencing for April 8. Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said her office would seek a life sentence.

Defense lawyer Stephen Riebling said Spears was shocked.

"We are disappointed with the verdict that was rendered in this case," Riebling said. "It is our client's intention to appeal the decision."

Speaking to reporters, he maintained that "it is still a mystery" as to what caused Garnett's death.

But Brown said he was convinced salt poisoning killed Garnett after hearing the medical examiner testify that was the cause of death.

"The defense was trying to cast innuendo," he said. "It was easy to see through where they were coming from."

Asked if the defense was believable when it implied hospital error or health condition might have killed the boy, Brown replied, "If you're naive, you can believe that."

When jurors were first given the case, they outlined what pieces of evidence they wanted to see again and review before deliberating on a decision, Brown said.

They reviewed a hospital-room-video that showed Garnett appearing healthy before he was taken into the bathroom by his mother, where prosecutors said she poisoned him with salt through his feeding tube. Shortly after emerging, the video showed him retching and sick.

"It's not like there were six people in the room," Brown said. "There were two people in the room."

Jurors talked about how unlikely it would have been for Garnett to voluntarily consume large amounts of salt water.

"The kid couldn't force it himself," Brown said. "Have you ever tried swallowing salt water? You can't swallow it. You spit it out."

Prosecutors, including Assistant District Attorney Pat Murphy, also did a good job in presenting their case and hammering in the evidence, he said.

"All the evidence was there," Brown said. "She proved it to me. For the whole five weeks, she kept proving it."

Brown said it might have helped Spears if she had testified, considering the amount of evidence pointing to her guilt.

"It helps when somebody stands up and says, 'I didn't do that,'" he said. "I wouldn't leave it to someone else."

Brown said he's glad the trial is over.

"It was hard judging somebody," he said. "It's not something I want to go through again."

At a news conference shortly after the verdict, DiFiore said Ramapo and Westchester County police "put together a first-rate case." She also praised the jury.

"They paid very careful attention," DiFiore said. "We are very confident this conviction will be upheld."

Prosecutors had argued there was no possible explanation for the high sodium levels that caused Garnett's death other than salt poisoning. They said she did it for attention, and called it "nothing short of torture."

The defense had contended that Spears, 27, was a doting mother being tried on sketchy evidence. Spears' lawyers suggested it was Nyack Hospital's treatment of the boy that led to his death on Jan. 23, 2014, at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla

The trial lasted 14 days. Jurors had deliberated for a short time late Thursday and all day Friday before resuming Monday morning. They announced they had reached a verdict about 12:30 p.m.

For the past three weeks, three police detectives have been holding vigil outside the courtroom.

The Ramapo and Westchester County detectives, who had been part of the nearly yearlong investigation, called it the hardest case they had ever worked.

"It was a bit nerve-wracking at the end," said Westchester Detective Daniel Carfi. "(From) the beginning of this case, we were fighting for Garnett, for some kind of justification, some kind of justice for him — and we saw that today."

Carfi and Ramapo Detectives Kirk Budnick and Gregory Dunn spent thousands of hours investigating the case and searching through tens of thousands of social media posts Spears used to chronicle her son's health problems. They traveled through five states and interviewed 150 people. Doctors who treated Garnett were the first to alert police, but tips began coming in as the case gained media attention.

"As soon as they heard some of (Spears') lies, our phones started to blow up," Carfi recalled.

While the probe into Garnett's death focused on a rare psychological disorder, Munchausen by proxy, in which parents harm their children to win attention and sympathy, prosecutors ultimately did not introduce that theory at trial, suggesting they were convinced the evidence they had was strong enough on its own for a conviction.

Spears had chronicled her sickly son's many illnesses — including his final one — on Facebook and a personal blog. In one Facebook post, she said Garnett made 23 trips to the hospital in his first year.

She had relocated to Rockland County from Florida 14 months before Garnett's death, moving to the secluded Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge, where a live-off-the-land philosophy is followed.

"Garnett was an amazing individual who befriended all who met him, and we believe that his indomitable spirit will live on with us through the years to come," Matt Uppenbrink, the Fellowship's adminstrator, said in a statement.

Administrators at Green Meadow Waldorf School where Garnett attended for a short time released a statement saying they continue to mourn his death.

"We did everything we could to cooperate with authorities in their investigation into Garnett's death," school spokeswoman Vicki Larson said in a statement. "While today's verdict brings some closure to a very painful event, our thoughts remain with Garnett."

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/03/02/lacey-spears-trial-deliberations-continue/24251795/

Lacey Spears: Mother sentenced to prison for poisoning son to death with salt

PAYTON GUION  NEW YORK  
Monday 02 March 2015

Lacey Spears, a mother who blogged about her son’s health woes, was sentenced to prison on Monday for killing her son by force-feeding him salt.

Spears was convicted of second-degree murder and faces 25 years to life in prison, according to ABC News. She force poisoned her son, 5-year-old Garnett-Paul Spears, using salt fed through a stomach tube and prosecutors said she killed the boy because she was afraid he would say she was poisoning him.

On social media, Spears played the role of loving mother, often tweeting about how much she loved her son.

But prosecutors in the case painted a different picture, telling the jury that Spears loved the attention she got from her son’s medical issues.

“She apparently craved the attention of her family, her friends, her co-workers and most particularly the medical profession,” Assistant District Attorney Patricia Murphy said in closing arguments.

Video cameras caught Spears on two occasions taking her son into a hospital bathroom with a feeding tube. A search of her apartment also turned up two feeding bags contaminated with salt. One of the bags had the equivalent of 69 salt packets.

Prosecutors called Spears a “calculating child killer” and told the jury that she searched the internet for the effects of sodium on children. They also said that Spears would lie to doctors about her son’s health.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lacey-spears-mother-sentenced-to-prison-for-poisoning-son-to-death-with-salt-10081249.html

Kentucky mother gets 20 years to life for salt-poisoning of son

Published April 08, 2015
FoxNews.com

A Kentucky woman convicted of murdering her son by putting salt in his hospital feeding tube was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years to life in prison.

Lacey Spears, 27, was found guilty last month of second-degree murder in the 2014 death of her 5-year-old son, Garnett-Paul Spears, at a suburban New York hospital.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary said Spears' crime was "unfathomable in its cruelty" and brought her son "five years of torment and pain." But he said he was not imposing the maximum 25 years to life because "one does not have to be a psychiatrist to realize you suffer from Munchausen by proxy."

He said he was offering "something you did not exhibit toward your son — mercy."

Munchausen by proxy, now known clinically as factitious disorder imposed on another, is a disorder in which, in some cases, caretakers purposely but secretly harm children and then enjoy the attention and sympathy they receive.

The judge said he hoped to shine a spotlight on the illness and encourage public reporting of it.

Prosecutors said the mother force-fed high concentrations of sodium through the boy's stomach tube because she craved the attention his illness brought to her, especially through her heavy posting on social media.

Her actions were "nothing short of torture," one prosecutor said. "The motive is bizarre, the motive is scary, but it exists."

The defense tried to blame the hospital, saying the boy was dehydrated while in its care. One defense lawyer said there was "no direct evidence" of a crime.

Spears' attorneys had refused to raise the disorder as a defense, and both sides agreed not to mention it at trial. After the sentencing, defense lawyer Stephen Riebling said it was odd for the judge to bring it up because Spears "hasn't been diagnosed with any mental illness."

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said after the verdict, "This was not a close case. ... There was one conclusion to draw and that was that Lacey Spears murdered her child."

Garnett's feeding tube had been in place since infancy, when his mother told doctors he couldn't keep food down.

Days before his death, Spears brought her son to the hospital and reported he was suffering seizures. Doctors found him to be well until his sodium levels rose to extremes. The prosecution alleged Spears took the boy into a bathroom twice to push salt through the tube.

"Garnett Spears should be in school today, and he's not because his mother murdered him," prosecutor Doreen Lloyd told the judge.

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.

Spears did not testify at her trial. Her lawyers have promised an appeal.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/08/da-seeking-life-sentence-in-new-york-mother-salt-poisoning-son/?intcmp=latestnews