Mom Confesses She Killed Autistic Child
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) — A woman accused of killing her autistic daughter testified Friday that she attempted to suffocate the 3-year-old with a pillow three days before she succeeded with a plastic garbage bag.
Karen McCarron said she couldn't go through with it using the pillow. When prosecutor Kevin Johnson asked her how long she held the bag over the toddler's head soon after, she replied about two minutes — until little Katie stopped struggling.
In a videotaped confession played in court Thursday, McCarron said she began having thoughts of hurting her daughter a year before the May 2006 slaying but put them out of her mind. On the day of the killing, though, the thoughts were stronger than ever.
"They were so intense," McCarron said.
McCarron, 39, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder, obstructing justice and concealment of a homicidal death. She was found mentally fit to stand trial, but a medical expert hired by her attorneys has said she was insane at the time of the killing.
The trial resumes Monday.
McCarron, a former pathologist, testified she felt responsible for Katie's autism because she allowed the child to get vaccinated.
It "brought me a great deal of guilt," she said.
McCarron told investigators in the confession taped two days after Katie was killed that she wrapped the white plastic bag around the child's head as Katie played with toys on the floor at the home of McCarron's mother in Peoria.
The child had scratch marks on her head and bite marks were found inside her mouth and on the bag as she apparently tried to free herself, according to other testimony.
The confession was taped while McCarron was hospitalized after attempting suicide, investigators said. Wearing a hospital gown, she appears sitting on a bed next to her husband, Paul McCarron.
Karen McCarron said she killed her child hoping to "fix her" and give her peace in heaven.
"Maybe I could fix her this way, and in heaven she would be complete," she said on the tape.
Karen McCarron said on the videotape that she took her daughter's body back to her own house and put her in bed. She then went to the store, bought ice cream and returned to her mother's home to get the garbage bag because, "if things get bad, their house would be searched."
Interviewers asked McCarron if she knew what she did was criminally wrong.
"I have enough education to know that," she answered.
McCarron told police she felt like a failure because of the child's autism and was sad and hurt because the child couldn't interact with her very well.
"I loved Katie very much, but I hated the autism so, so much," McCarron said. "I hated what it was doing to her. ... I just wanted autism out of my life."
For more stories about this horrid and all too common, sickening situation please take a moment to read and practice awareness and not turn a blind eye to what's really going on around us. I believe that autistic individuals are a blessing in so many ways and I do not understand how people are so mentally ill and do not reach out for help to avoid murdering a totally innocent child/adult just because of the autism and their lack of love and understanding for them. I count my blessings every moment of the day for being so privileged to be Griffin's mother, he has taught me so many things in my life, far more than I have taught him.
2 comments:
I agree 100% and I wouldn't change anything with TC. It has made me a better person being his Mom.
We're not supposed to understand, Lora. We are of sound mind. Horrible stories. Just think: how many hundreds of thousands more are there of children without autism? Child abuse is horrible, no matter the "motive".
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