A New York mother who blogged about her son’s sickness throughout his life is being charged with fatally poisoning the him with salt.
Garnett, 5, was brought into the hospital in January after experiencing seizures. Later in afternoon the boys sodium levels had risen exponentially without any medical reasoning, ABC News reported. A few days later the boy was found unresponsive, barely breathing with his skin turning grey. The mother was the only one sharing the room with the boy when he was pronounced dead on January 23.
Lacey Spears, 26, turned herself in to police on Tuesday but had plead not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges. Prosecutors are accusing the woman of intentionally feeding her son dangerous amounts of salt.
Investigators also believe that Spears had been medically abusing her son for years and documented his illnesses via social media to get attention for herself. According to The Washington Post, Garnett’s medicals records indicated years of sickness throughout his five years of life, including severe ear infections, seizures and digestive problems all starting from the time he was five days old. Doctors put in a feeding tube when he was 9-months-old, where it is believed she was injecting the boy with the high levels of salt.
A neighbor of the woman said Spears called her from the hospital and asked her to disgard of the bag she used to feed him through his tube, The Washington Post reported. The bag contained extremely high levels of sodium.
Authorities also believe Spears could be suffering from a psychiatric disorder called Munchausen syndrome, a mental disorder in which parents intentionally sicken their children for attention or sympathy. If convicted, Spears could face 20 years to life in prison.