Witiness: Mom's Psychosis Led to Killing
12 hours ago
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) — A mother was severely depressed and experiencing a psychotic episode when she suffocated her autistic 3-year-old daughter with a garbage bag, a doctor testified Monday at the woman's murder trial.
Karen McCarron was haunted by thoughts that she was responsible for Katherine "Katie" McCarron's autism, defense witness Dr. Joseph Glenmullen said, the Journal Star of Peoria and the Pekin Daily Times reported.
"Karen was severely obsessed with the idea, and she believed it, that she caused her daughter's autism," Glenmullen said. "Karen was convinced of that."
McCarron said she ignored God's warnings by listening to doctors and having Katie vaccinated, then believed the vaccinations caused the autism, said Glenmullen, who works at Harvard University and came to her conclusion by reading another psychiatrist's interviews, reviewing medical records and hearing other testimony.
"She felt she ignored God's suggestions," he 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 her defense attorneys have said she was insane at the time of the killing.
Prosecutor Kirk Schoenbein said McCarron was never found to be psychotic by any other doctor before or after the killing.
"You're the only mental health professional in Karen McCarron's life that's ever said she's psychotic," Schoenbein said to McCarron.
McCarron had lost weight, been depressed for more than two weeks and felt helpless when she killed Katie, Glenmullen said.
"She meets more than half of the definitions of someone with major depression," Glenmullen said.
McCarron saw a psychiatrist in Chicago for depression but stopped taking medication before the child's death because she thought it worsened the condition, Glenmullen said.
12 hours ago
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) — A mother was severely depressed and experiencing a psychotic episode when she suffocated her autistic 3-year-old daughter with a garbage bag, a doctor testified Monday at the woman's murder trial.
Karen McCarron was haunted by thoughts that she was responsible for Katherine "Katie" McCarron's autism, defense witness Dr. Joseph Glenmullen said, the Journal Star of Peoria and the Pekin Daily Times reported.
"Karen was severely obsessed with the idea, and she believed it, that she caused her daughter's autism," Glenmullen said. "Karen was convinced of that."
McCarron said she ignored God's warnings by listening to doctors and having Katie vaccinated, then believed the vaccinations caused the autism, said Glenmullen, who works at Harvard University and came to her conclusion by reading another psychiatrist's interviews, reviewing medical records and hearing other testimony.
"She felt she ignored God's suggestions," he 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 her defense attorneys have said she was insane at the time of the killing.
Prosecutor Kirk Schoenbein said McCarron was never found to be psychotic by any other doctor before or after the killing.
"You're the only mental health professional in Karen McCarron's life that's ever said she's psychotic," Schoenbein said to McCarron.
McCarron had lost weight, been depressed for more than two weeks and felt helpless when she killed Katie, Glenmullen said.
"She meets more than half of the definitions of someone with major depression," Glenmullen said.
McCarron saw a psychiatrist in Chicago for depression but stopped taking medication before the child's death because she thought it worsened the condition, Glenmullen said.
