Latest / This is monsters / Lacey Spears Part 02 _ Garnett the Great

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Lacey Spears Part 02 _ Garnett the Great · This is monsters

0:00
Speaker 1: When we left off on part one, Lacey had taken
0:03
Speaker 1: Garnet and moved to the Fellowship community in Chestnut Ridge,
0:07
Speaker 1: New York. When she arrived there, she immediately told the
0:11
Speaker 1: other members that her fiancé, Garnet's father, had died in
0:15
Speaker 1: a car accident and continued to tell people that Garnet
0:18
Speaker 1: had trouble eating. A number of people noted that the
0:21
Speaker 1: boy seemed to have no problem eating and questioned the
0:24
Speaker 1: need for the feeding tube. Not only that, but a
0:28
Speaker 1: pediatric gastroenterologist had asked Lacey to schedule a feeding evaluation
0:33
Speaker 1: to determine if Garnet still needed the feeding tube. The
0:37
Speaker 1: doctor didn't seem to think it was necessary anymore and
0:40
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure the boy was ready to have
0:42
Speaker 1: it removed. Lacey failed to ever schedule the evaluation. The
0:48
Speaker 1: gastroenterologist asked her several times to schedule it, but she wouldn't.
0:53
Speaker 1: This was because she didn't want the feeding tube to
0:56
Speaker 1: be removed. Garnet never needed it in the first place.
1:01
Speaker 1: Multiple doctors had refused to implant one because they said
1:05
Speaker 1: it was not needed. She had to shop for a
1:08
Speaker 1: doctor that would actually perform the procedure. She wanted the
1:12
Speaker 1: feeding tube so she could control what was going into
1:15
Speaker 1: Garnet's system. She wanted to be able to easily poison
1:19
Speaker 1: him so that she could make him sick whenever she
1:21
Speaker 1: needed him to be. For Lacey Spears, removing the feeding
1:26
Speaker 1: tube was not an option. This is Monsters. Not long
1:56
Speaker 1: after moving to the fellowship, Lacey began supplementing her attention
2:00
Speaker 1: by accusing male members of sexual harassment. She reported one
2:05
Speaker 1: man to the police for exposing himself to her twice,
2:08
Speaker 1: which he adamantly denied. He was told to stay away
2:12
Speaker 1: from her and nothing further came of it. Then she
2:15
Speaker 1: accused another man of sexually harassing her and he and
2:18
Speaker 1: his wife were asked to leave the fellowship. He was
2:21
Speaker 1: never given an opportunity to defend himself. When Garnet entered
2:25
Speaker 1: kindergarten at the Waldorf School, it was another place for
2:29
Speaker 1: Lacey to soak in the sympathy. It didn't take long
2:32
Speaker 1: for every other parent to know that Garrett had health
2:35
Speaker 1: problems and her beloved fiancé Blake, the police officer, had died.
2:40
Speaker 1: Of course, the more Lacey talked, the more questions arose.
2:44
Speaker 1: She regularly told people that Garnet had cochlear implants, but
2:49
Speaker 1: one of the other parents knew that those required a
2:52
Speaker 1: visible device placed outside of the ear. When the parent
2:56
Speaker 1: asked Lacey about the lack of cochlear device, she was
2:59
Speaker 1: told that Garnet had a new technology that didn't require
3:02
Speaker 1: the external device. The parent would later say that she
3:05
Speaker 1: looked it up online and couldn't find anything that matched
3:08
Speaker 1: what Lacey had described. Garnet's teacher also found that Lacey's
3:13
Speaker 1: description of a sick child who had trouble eating did
3:16
Speaker 1: not match the behavior she saw from the boy in
3:19
Speaker 1: her classroom. On December 3rd, 2013, Garnet Spears would enter
3:25
Speaker 1: his fifth and final year of life. Just after Christmas,
3:29
Speaker 1: while Lacey and Garnet were in Florida for the holiday,
3:32
Speaker 1: Lacey started sending emails to various people, including Garnet's teacher,
3:37
Speaker 1: that the boy had been hospitalized with a fever. She
3:40
Speaker 1: wrote that he was vomiting, something he was incapable of doing,
3:44
Speaker 1: and that his fever had reached 105 degrees. When she
3:49
Speaker 1: returned from Florida, Lacey denied ever taking Garnett to the hospital,
3:53
Speaker 1: and her family in Florida confirmed that he never went
3:56
Speaker 1: to the hospital. On January 7, 2014, Garnett returned to
4:01
Speaker 1: kindergarten and was reported by the teacher to be happy
4:04
Speaker 1: and healthy. On the 10th, Lacey kept Garnet home from school,
4:08
Speaker 1: claiming he had a fever and the flu. She took
4:11
Speaker 1: him to the pediatrician the same day and told the
4:14
Speaker 1: doctor that Garnet was having trouble in school and was
4:17
Speaker 1: unable to concentrate, something that his teacher said was absolutely
4:21
Speaker 1: not true. Lacey claimed that Garnet had night terrors and
4:25
Speaker 1: again claimed that he had trouble eating, something that had
4:28
Speaker 1: been displayed to be not true over and over again.
4:32
Speaker 1: His teacher said that he ate his entire lunch every
4:34
Speaker 1: day and that she had to ask Lacey to provide
4:37
Speaker 1: a bigger lunch because he always wanted more. Another sign
4:41
Speaker 1: of someone having Munchausen syndrome by proxy is that the
4:44
Speaker 1: symptoms only happen while the child is alone with the parent.
4:48
Speaker 1: Lacey claimed that Garnet regularly refused to eat, but it
4:52
Speaker 1: only ever happened when she was alone with him. I
4:55
Speaker 1: don't doubt that can happen occasionally. It's like when your
4:58
Speaker 1: car makes a noise, so you take it to the shop,
5:00
Speaker 1: but it never makes the noise for the mechanic. Then
5:03
Speaker 1: you start driving home, and it makes the noise again.
5:05
Speaker 1: I'm sure that something like that can happen for a child,
5:09
Speaker 1: but for nobody, not a single other person, including countless
5:13
Speaker 1: friends and family who were around him for extended periods
5:17
Speaker 1: of time, to have never witnessed a single time in
5:21
Speaker 1: five years, that's when it becomes unlikely that it's really happening.
5:26
Speaker 1: That's another sign of someone who has Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
5:30
Speaker 1: The symptoms only occur when the child is alone with
5:33
Speaker 1: the parent, but they go away once in the care
5:36
Speaker 1: of others. Garnet, like other children in Lacey's care, had
5:41
Speaker 1: always seemed to get better from their ailments as soon
5:43
Speaker 1: as they were in the care of someone else, whether
5:46
Speaker 1: that be a doctor, nurse, friend, or teacher. On Sunday,
5:51
Speaker 1: January 12th, Lacey updated Gardet's teacher that he still had
5:55
Speaker 1: a fever and wouldn't be in school the next day.
5:57
Speaker 1: At about midnight that night, she used her smartphone to
6:02
Speaker 1: search the internet for Blake Robinson, the same man she
6:05
Speaker 1: had modeled her fake dead fiancé after. Then she searched
6:09
Speaker 1: exactly how many days had passed since October 6th, 2011,
6:14
Speaker 1: the day she claimed that the fictitious Blake had died.
6:18
Speaker 1: The following morning, at 6.16 a.m., she searched, quote, normal
6:23
Speaker 1: sodium level for a child. Then she used an online
6:27
Speaker 1: medical encyclopedia to search for the ratio of sodium to blood.
6:32
Speaker 1: Later that morning, Lacey took Garnett to the doctor, claiming
6:35
Speaker 1: that he had had a fever of 105 for five days.
6:40
Speaker 1: The doctor took his temperature and it was normal. After
6:43
Speaker 1: an examination, the doctor determined that Garnett was perfectly healthy.
6:48
Speaker 1: At 8.17 that night, Lacey continued to search the internet
6:52
Speaker 1: for information about elevated sodium in children. She searched, quote,
6:57
Speaker 1: what happens to someone if they have high sodium levels
7:00
Speaker 1: in the blood, and dangers of high sodium levels in children.
7:04
Speaker 1: She also made a number of searches for the term hypernatremia,
7:08
Speaker 1: which is the condition caused by an excess of sodium
7:11
Speaker 1: in the blood and it can be fatal. The following day,
7:15
Speaker 1: January 14th, At just before midnight, Lacey took Garnet to
7:19
Speaker 1: the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital. She told the
7:23
Speaker 1: staff that Garnet had had two seizures. The second one
7:27
Speaker 1: was right there in the waiting room. She also said
7:30
Speaker 1: that he had a headache, was dry heaving, and had
7:33
Speaker 1: explosive diarrhea. She specifically told the doctor that the boy
7:37
Speaker 1: had had seizures in the past due to hypernatremia. If
7:41
Speaker 1: he had seizures in the past due to that condition,
7:44
Speaker 1: why did you have to just look it up on
7:46
Speaker 1: the internet the night before? After a number of tests,
7:50
Speaker 1: the hospital determined that Garnett's sodium levels were only slightly
7:54
Speaker 1: elevated at 147. The highest normal sodium level was 145,
8:01
Speaker 1: so though it was high, the doctor explained that it
8:03
Speaker 1: wasn't high enough to cause seizures. After it was observed
8:08
Speaker 1: that Garnett was doing better, they discharged him. Back at home,
8:12
Speaker 1: Lacey complained to friends that the hospital wasn't taking her seriously,
8:16
Speaker 1: and she told people that Garnet's sodium levels had been 189,
8:21
Speaker 1: a much deadlier level. She continued to communicate with friends
8:25
Speaker 1: over text and Facebook that Garnet was having multiple seizures.
8:30
Speaker 1: On the morning of January 16th, Lacey took Garnet back
8:34
Speaker 1: to his pediatrician, explaining that the boy had had multiple seizures,
8:38
Speaker 1: but that the hospital had claimed he was okay. The
8:41
Speaker 1: doctor examined Garnet and also found him to be perfectly healthy.
8:45
Speaker 1: He referred Lacey to a pediatric neurologist regarding the alleged seizures.
8:51
Speaker 1: On January 17th, Garnet's teacher stopped by his and Lacey's
8:55
Speaker 1: house to check up on him. Inside, she saw Lacey
8:59
Speaker 1: holding Garnet on the couch, who was in obvious distress.
9:03
Speaker 1: Next to them was an IV pole and pump. The
9:06
Speaker 1: pole was holding a bag of milky-colored liquid and it
9:09
Speaker 1: looked as though it was ready to be used. Just
9:12
Speaker 1: after the teacher left, Lacey used the pump and pushed
9:15
Speaker 1: the fluid directly into Garnet's stomach. A few minutes later,
9:20
Speaker 1: Lacey made a frantic call to Una, saying that Garnet
9:22
Speaker 1: was having a seizure and she needed to borrow a
9:25
Speaker 1: car to take him to the hospital. She told Una
9:28
Speaker 1: that she didn't want to ride, she wanted to go herself.
9:32
Speaker 1: On the way, Lacey pulled over and took a picture
9:35
Speaker 1: of Garnet in his car seat to post to Facebook,
9:38
Speaker 1: you know, while she was on the way to the
9:41
Speaker 1: emergency room. At this hospital, a different hospital than she
9:45
Speaker 1: had taken Garnet a few days before, Lacey again went
9:49
Speaker 1: through her son's lifetime of medical issues. It's also reported
9:53
Speaker 1: that Lacey told the nurse that Garnet wasn't vaccinated due
9:56
Speaker 1: to her strict Mormon religious beliefs. Now this... is the
10:00
Speaker 1: first and only place where I have seen any mention
10:03
Speaker 1: of Lacey being Mormon. I also couldn't find any information
10:07
Speaker 1: that supported the idea that vaccinations are against the Mormon religion.
10:11
Speaker 1: I actually found an article which stated the leaders of
10:14
Speaker 1: Mormon churches would not issue vaccination exemptions, so I don't
10:18
Speaker 1: know if this is a flat-out lie by Lacey or
10:21
Speaker 1: if it was noted incorrectly in the medical record. I'm
10:24
Speaker 1: wondering if Lacey lied but mistaken Mormons for the Amish.
10:28
Speaker 1: Who knows? When the doctor examined Garnet, he found no
10:33
Speaker 1: evidence of seizure activity. When Lacey told the doctor that
10:36
Speaker 1: when Garnet was a baby, he had been hospitalized with
10:39
Speaker 1: a sodium level of about 200, the doctor was immediately
10:44
Speaker 1: suspicious as that level would have been lethal in an infant,
10:47
Speaker 1: but he admitted the child for observation and called in
10:50
Speaker 1: a pediatric neurologist to consult regarding the seizures. The emergency
10:55
Speaker 1: room doctor explained the situation to the hospital's pediatrician and
10:59
Speaker 1: informed her of his suspicion that Lacey suffered from Munchausen
11:03
Speaker 1: syndrome by proxy. In order to determine if Garnet was
11:07
Speaker 1: suffering from seizures, they would conduct an EEG, which would
11:11
Speaker 1: be accompanied by a video. This would measure the brainwaves
11:15
Speaker 1: and also provide a visual to match what the body
11:18
Speaker 1: was doing during certain brain activity. The doctor noted that
11:22
Speaker 1: Lacey seemed completely passive about the idea of admitting her
11:26
Speaker 1: son to the hospital and having hooked up to a machine.
11:29
Speaker 1: When they tested his blood, his sodium levels came back normal,
11:33
Speaker 1: but when the doctor informed Lacey, he noted that she
11:35
Speaker 1: had no reaction. Over the next few days, Garnet was
11:39
Speaker 1: hooked up to the EEG machine, and unsurprisingly, he had
11:43
Speaker 1: no seizures. He didn't even have anything that could be
11:46
Speaker 1: interpreted as a seizure. No headache, no retching, no shaking.
11:51
Speaker 1: The neurologist, who was a seizure specialist, had examined Garnet
11:55
Speaker 1: and saw nothing wrong with him. By Sunday morning, hospital
11:59
Speaker 1: staff were expected to discharge the boy the next day.
12:03
Speaker 1: All of his EEG results were normal, and if his
12:06
Speaker 1: MRI that was scheduled for the next day was normal,
12:08
Speaker 1: he would be sent home. At 9.08 a.m., Lacey used
12:13
Speaker 1: her phone to search the internet for, quote, what is
12:16
Speaker 1: iodized salt, why buy iodized salt, and Morton iodized salt,
12:21
Speaker 1: what's in it. Then she searched for information about the
12:24
Speaker 1: central nervous system and brain tumors. At 10.25 a.m., the
12:30
Speaker 1: camera on the EEG caught Lacey going into the bathroom
12:33
Speaker 1: with Garnet. Garnet had been happy and playing around on
12:37
Speaker 1: the bed just before that. The camera obviously couldn't see
12:41
Speaker 1: into the bathroom, but she came back out and dug
12:44
Speaker 1: something out of her bag. She could be seen holding
12:46
Speaker 1: a connector tube for Garnet's feeding port in one hand
12:50
Speaker 1: and a large cup in the other as she walked
12:52
Speaker 1: back into the bathroom. When Lacey came out of the
12:55
Speaker 1: bathroom three minutes later, she was carrying a lethargic Garnet
12:59
Speaker 1: who was placed on the bed. Lacey went back into
13:02
Speaker 1: the bathroom and retrieved the tube and cup and put
13:05
Speaker 1: them away. Then she sat, emotionless, as she watched Garnet,
13:09
Speaker 1: waiting for the overdose of sodium to kick in. She
13:12
Speaker 1: even moved the nurse's call button closer ahead of time,
13:16
Speaker 1: in preparation of using it. At 10.35 a.m., Garnett rolled
13:21
Speaker 1: over and began dry heaving, and Lacey pressed the call
13:24
Speaker 1: button to alert the nurse that there was a problem.
13:27
Speaker 1: The pediatrician came in and gave Garnett an anti-nausea medication,
13:31
Speaker 1: and soon the boy began having explosive diarrhea. The doctor
13:35
Speaker 1: ordered blood work to check his sodium, blood sugar, chloride,
13:39
Speaker 1: and potassium levels. While they waited for the results, Lacey
13:43
Speaker 1: took a picture of her severely suffering son and posted
13:47
Speaker 1: it to Facebook, because that was what was important to her.
13:51
Speaker 1: Not getting her son better, but displaying his suffering so
13:54
Speaker 1: everyone could feel bad for poor Lacey, the single mom
13:58
Speaker 1: with a dead fiancé and sick child. I've covered a
14:02
Speaker 1: lot of terrible people, but this just seems to be
14:04
Speaker 1: the highest level of depravity. To intentionally cause long-term suffering
14:09
Speaker 1: of your own child in order to get sympathy from
14:12
Speaker 1: other people. When the results of the blood work came back,
14:16
Speaker 1: Lacey asked specifically about the sodium level, which the nurse
14:19
Speaker 1: said was in the normal range. At 4.19pm, the camera
14:24
Speaker 1: caught Lacey take Garnet into the bathroom again with the
14:27
Speaker 1: cup in the tube. By the time they went in,
14:30
Speaker 1: Garnet was doing better and playing on his bed again.
14:33
Speaker 1: When they came out of the bathroom, though, he was
14:35
Speaker 1: lethargic and soon began dry heaving again. The doctor administered
14:40
Speaker 1: more anti-nausea medication and pain relievers for Garnet's headache. Unlike
14:45
Speaker 1: the last time, Garnet's condition only deteriorated and at 5.30 p.m.
14:50
Speaker 1: he began having a full-blown seizure. Lacey began screaming for
14:54
Speaker 1: the nurse who rushed in and a code white was called.
14:57
Speaker 1: The doctor had to give him multiple doses of anti-seizure
15:01
Speaker 1: medication to stop the boy from seizing. Then he began
15:04
Speaker 1: having trouble breathing. His O2 levels dropped so low that
15:08
Speaker 1: the doctor had to intubate him and put him on
15:10
Speaker 1: a breathing machine. When Garnett's blood work came back this time,
15:14
Speaker 1: his sodium had jumped from 144 to 182. Every doctor
15:19
Speaker 1: involved was in disbelief because there was literally no medical
15:23
Speaker 1: reason for his sodium levels to jump that high in
15:26
Speaker 1: a matter of hours. Garnett was airlifted to a pediatric
15:30
Speaker 1: intensive care unit at Westchester Medical Center. Dr. Kerry Goldsman,
15:35
Speaker 1: director of the PICU at the hospital, came into the
15:38
Speaker 1: room to examine the boy, and that's when he realized
15:41
Speaker 1: how Garnett's sodium levels could have suddenly gone up. He
15:45
Speaker 1: had been previously notified about the boy's condition over the phone,
15:49
Speaker 1: and when he was informed that Garnett's sodium had suddenly
15:52
Speaker 1: spiked at 182, he demanded that they redo the test
15:56
Speaker 1: because clearly someone had screwed up. Since he hadn't physically
16:00
Speaker 1: seen the patient, he was unaware that he had a
16:02
Speaker 1: feeding tube, but as soon as he saw it, he
16:05
Speaker 1: thought that it was possible that someone had given Garnet
16:08
Speaker 1: a high dose of sodium chloride, which would cause the
16:11
Speaker 1: rise in sodium along with the rise in chloride that
16:14
Speaker 1: the blood test had also shown. When Dr. Goldsman questioned Lacey,
16:18
Speaker 1: she listed all of his medical conditions like she happily
16:21
Speaker 1: did for anyone who asked. When he asked her when
16:24
Speaker 1: the last time Garnet had been fed using his feeding tube,
16:28
Speaker 1: Lacey responded that it had been a week ago. Una
16:31
Speaker 1: was with Lacey at the hospital and she had seen
16:33
Speaker 1: her friend feed Garnet with the feeding tube two days prior,
16:37
Speaker 1: but when she tried to correct Lacey, the woman just
16:40
Speaker 1: shot her an icy look. Una also noticed that Lacey
16:43
Speaker 1: left out many of the medical conditions that she had
16:46
Speaker 1: told other people that Garnet suffered from. Una was the
16:50
Speaker 1: next in a long line of people who were realizing
16:52
Speaker 1: that something wasn't right with Lacey and her son's medical conditions.
16:57
Speaker 1: By the end of the day, Garnet's sodium levels had
17:00
Speaker 1: dropped slightly and he regained consciousness. Dr. Alan Pinto took
17:05
Speaker 1: over Garnet's care from Dr. Goldsman, and he informed Lacey
17:09
Speaker 1: that they were going to remove her son's breathing tube.
17:12
Speaker 1: To Dr. Pinto's surprise, she asked him not to. She
17:15
Speaker 1: told the doctor that she didn't want him to be uncomfortable,
17:18
Speaker 1: but leaving it in increased the risk of infection, so
17:21
Speaker 1: despite her objection, the breathing tube was removed. It's speculated
17:26
Speaker 1: that she was afraid that Garnet would tell people what
17:28
Speaker 1: had happened in the bathroom. After the breathing tube was out,
17:32
Speaker 1: Garnet just kept asking to go home. As time passed,
17:36
Speaker 1: the doctor and the nurses would check on Garnet and
17:39
Speaker 1: report that he was doing well. On Facebook, though, Lacey
17:43
Speaker 1: was posting about her son screaming in pain and saying
17:46
Speaker 1: his head hurt. The next morning, the nurse reported that
17:49
Speaker 1: Garnett seemed to sleep well through the night, but Lacey
17:53
Speaker 1: posted that they got little sleep and Garnett was screaming
17:56
Speaker 1: in pain. On January 21st, Dr. Goldsman and Dr. Pinto
18:01
Speaker 1: did their rounds and observed Garnett peacefully laying in his bed.
18:05
Speaker 1: His blood work showed that his sodium level had come
18:08
Speaker 1: down to 146 and he was recovering well. That morning,
18:13
Speaker 1: Lacey texted a friend that the doctor was an asshole
18:17
Speaker 1: and he had been outside the room ranting that morning.
18:20
Speaker 1: She told the friend that Garnett had a bad night
18:23
Speaker 1: and hadn't slept and that she reported it to the nurse,
18:26
Speaker 1: but they didn't care. At close to 7.30 a.m., a
18:30
Speaker 1: code bell went off and Dr. Goldsman ran as fast
18:33
Speaker 1: as he could to Garnett's room. When he got there,
18:36
Speaker 1: he saw an empty water bottle under the bed and
18:38
Speaker 1: he told the nurse to grab it. The doctor had
18:41
Speaker 1: given Lacey explicit instructions not to give her son any
18:45
Speaker 1: water because it could cause brain damage. Why would a
18:49
Speaker 1: mother defy that order and give her son a full
18:51
Speaker 1: bottle of water? Lacey was ordered out of the room
18:55
Speaker 1: and the doctor had to intubate Garnet because he had
18:57
Speaker 1: stopped breathing. His eyes were fully dilated and weren't reacting
19:02
Speaker 1: to light, meaning there was a problem with his brain stem.
19:05
Speaker 1: Garnet was taken for a CAT scan and had more
19:08
Speaker 1: blood work done. The water that had been given to
19:11
Speaker 1: him by Lacey caused the high level of sodium in
19:14
Speaker 1: his system to go to his brain and cause it
19:16
Speaker 1: to swell. The swelling was so bad that by the
19:19
Speaker 1: time Garnet had a CAT scan, it showed that he
19:22
Speaker 1: was brain dead. His brain had nowhere to go when
19:25
Speaker 1: it swelled inside his skull and pushed down, crushing the
19:28
Speaker 1: brain stem. After Dr. Goldsman notified Lacey and her parents,
19:33
Speaker 1: who had spent the last two days driving to be
19:35
Speaker 1: with her, he went to the director of the child
19:38
Speaker 1: abuse pediatric program and reported his suspicions. Lacey Spears had
19:43
Speaker 1: poisoned her son with salt and caused his current brain death. Soon,
19:48
Speaker 1: the Westchester County District Attorney Office was informed about the
19:51
Speaker 1: situation and they notified the Westchester County Police. At the
19:56
Speaker 1: same time, Dr. Goldsman called more than a dozen specialists
19:59
Speaker 1: to examine Garnett Spears and make absolutely sure there was
20:03
Speaker 1: no medical reason for the rise in sodium levels. When
20:07
Speaker 1: Detective Dan Carfee spoke to hospital staff about the case
20:10
Speaker 1: at hand, they made sure to reiterate that it was
20:13
Speaker 1: medically impossible for the sodium levels in his system to
20:16
Speaker 1: rise on their own. Someone had to have introduced salt
20:20
Speaker 1: into his feeding tube and the only person who had
20:22
Speaker 1: the opportunity was his mother. Westchester County Police and Ramapo Police,
20:28
Speaker 1: who had jurisdiction over the area the fellowship community was located,
20:32
Speaker 1: began working together. Ramapo Police Detective Kirk Budnick requested a
20:37
Speaker 1: search warrant for Lacey's residence and went there to secure
20:40
Speaker 1: the scene while they waited for the warrant to be issued.
20:43
Speaker 1: At the same time, Detective Carfee interviewed Lacey in a
20:46
Speaker 1: conference room at the hospital. During the interview, Lacey's unusual
20:51
Speaker 1: emotion was noticeable. People always say that they noticed a
20:55
Speaker 1: suspect's lack of emotion and then someone else says, everyone
20:59
Speaker 1: grieves differently, but this was different. She would begin crying,
21:03
Speaker 1: with no tears, but when she was asked a question,
21:06
Speaker 1: she would immediately shift to not crying and calmly answer
21:09
Speaker 1: the question. The detective said that everyone involved found it
21:13
Speaker 1: very bizarre. After the interview, Lacey returned to the hospital
21:17
Speaker 1: room where she took pictures of Garnet and posted them
21:20
Speaker 1: to Facebook. She posted pictures of her brain-dead child laying
21:24
Speaker 1: in a hospital bed hooked to life support and posted
21:27
Speaker 1: them to Facebook. Many of her friends were horrified. When
21:31
Speaker 1: Detective Budnick was finally able to search Lacey's apartment, he
21:35
Speaker 1: found an IV stand with a bag of white fluid
21:37
Speaker 1: still hanging on it and the pump. When he walked
21:40
Speaker 1: into the kitchen, on the kitchen table was a picture
21:43
Speaker 1: of garnet, several candles, some medications, and a large box
21:47
Speaker 1: of sea salt. In the kitchen garbage can, they found
21:51
Speaker 1: a used IV bag with the remnants of a white
21:53
Speaker 1: fluid inside. They photographed the scene and collected 174 various
21:59
Speaker 1: herbal medications and compounds, as well as two open 26-ounce
22:04
Speaker 1: containers of salt and a syringe they found in the
22:07
Speaker 1: living room. They discussed taking the IV bag full of
22:10
Speaker 1: fluid hanging on the IV pole, but believed it was
22:13
Speaker 1: just breast milk, so they didn't. Wouldn't you want to
22:16
Speaker 1: test the liquid inside to see if it had a
22:18
Speaker 1: high salt content? I mean, I'm no detective, but it
22:22
Speaker 1: seems reasonable, right? The next morning, Garnett had the first
22:27
Speaker 1: of two brain death examinations that were required before pronouncing
22:31
Speaker 1: someone dead. When the doctor was finished, he told Lacey
22:34
Speaker 1: that Garnett met the requirement for the first exam. At 10.18,
22:39
Speaker 1: Lacey called a friend, Valerie Plosh, who lived at the
22:42
Speaker 1: fellowship and asked her for a favor. She asked her
22:45
Speaker 1: to go into her apartment, take the IV off of
22:48
Speaker 1: the pole in the middle of the living room, and
22:50
Speaker 1: throw it away. Not only that, but she didn't want
22:53
Speaker 1: her to tell anyone about it. Despite this request being, uh,
22:58
Speaker 1: what would you call it? Oh, super fucking shady, she agreed.
23:02
Speaker 1: She didn't want to do it alone, so she ignored
23:05
Speaker 1: the don't tell anyone instruction and brought a friend along
23:08
Speaker 1: when she went to the apartment. Lacey lived in a
23:11
Speaker 1: basement apartment, and they went to the upstairs tenant and
23:14
Speaker 1: told them they needed to get something out of Lacey's unit.
23:17
Speaker 1: The upstairs neighbor told them it was a bad idea
23:20
Speaker 1: because the police had already come and photographed everything, but
23:24
Speaker 1: Valerie went downstairs and got the IV bag anyway. She
23:28
Speaker 1: put it in a black garbage bag and left the apartment.
23:31
Speaker 1: Having at least a mild amount of sense about her,
23:34
Speaker 1: Valerie did not throw the bag away. Instead, she hid
23:38
Speaker 1: it in her closet for the time being. While she
23:41
Speaker 1: was at work later that day, she began feeling guilty
23:44
Speaker 1: about what she had done and she told another fellowship
23:47
Speaker 1: member about the exchange with Lacey. The co-worker told her
23:51
Speaker 1: to tell the fellowship leadership, which she did. One of
23:54
Speaker 1: the leaders had her type up an email containing the
23:57
Speaker 1: exact conversation she had with Lacey and then retrieved the
24:00
Speaker 1: IV bag from her. They kept it locked in the
24:03
Speaker 1: fellowship medical center until the following morning when they contacted
24:07
Speaker 1: the Ramapo Police Department. Detectives picked up the IV bag
24:11
Speaker 1: and locked it in evidence. After that, police got another
24:14
Speaker 1: warrant specifically for the IV pole, the pump, and the
24:18
Speaker 1: other IV bag that was in the garbage can. Dr.
24:22
Speaker 1: Goldsman conducted the second brain death examination on Garnett and
24:26
Speaker 1: pronounced him brain dead on January 23, 2014, at 10.20 a.m.
24:28
Speaker 1: Soon after, he was taken off life support. When the
24:36
Speaker 1: IV bags were sent for testing, their contents came back
24:39
Speaker 1: with high levels of sodium. When Garnet's autopsy was conducted,
24:43
Speaker 1: the medical examiner found no sign of past brain issues,
24:47
Speaker 1: no tumors or hemorrhages. He inspected his esophagus, stomach, and
24:53
Speaker 1: small and large intestines and found no evidence of disease.
24:57
Speaker 1: Garnet did not have Crohn's disease or celiac disease. The
25:02
Speaker 1: medical examiner determined the manner of death was homicide. By
25:07
Speaker 1: the time the murder investigation was in full swing, Lacey
25:10
Speaker 1: had already retained an attorney and was refusing to talk
25:13
Speaker 1: to the police. She maintained her innocence and began claiming
25:17
Speaker 1: that the hospital screwed up. The detective spent months working
25:21
Speaker 1: up a complete timeline of Garnett's life. A process complicated
25:25
Speaker 1: by the fact that Lacey had lived in three places
25:28
Speaker 1: and taken her son to countless doctors with claims of
25:31
Speaker 1: so many symptoms. They had collected Lacey's phone and laptop
25:36
Speaker 1: as well as her sister's tablet and subpoenaed the records.
25:40
Speaker 1: They also got a warrant for all of the data
25:42
Speaker 1: from her social media account because she had started deleting things.
25:46
Speaker 1: They eventually got a digital copy of the video from
25:49
Speaker 1: Garnet's EEG. It was on this video that they watched
25:53
Speaker 1: Lacey take a happy, healthy Garnet into the bathroom with
25:57
Speaker 1: a feeding tube and a cup, then return with a
25:59
Speaker 1: lethargic child who would soon begin to retch and cry
26:03
Speaker 1: out in pain. Not once, but twice. Not only that,
26:07
Speaker 1: But investigators were able to connect the time that Lacey
26:11
Speaker 1: was searching the internet for information about sodium poisoning on
26:14
Speaker 1: her smartphone to a point in the video where she's
26:17
Speaker 1: laying in bed with Garnet. She's laying in his hospital bed,
26:21
Speaker 1: searching for information on how to kill him. On June 16, 2014,
26:28
Speaker 1: Lacey Spears was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and
26:32
Speaker 1: first-degree manslaughter. Lacey pleaded not guilty to both charges. She
26:37
Speaker 1: continued to deny that she had anything to do with
26:40
Speaker 1: her son's death, but the prosecutor presents a ton of
26:43
Speaker 1: evidence that says otherwise. When the trial started, the prosecution
26:48
Speaker 1: laid out the timeline. Lacey had already been watching other
26:52
Speaker 1: people's children and was poisoning them, children who all miraculously
26:56
Speaker 1: got better as soon as they stopped being cared for
26:59
Speaker 1: by Lacey. When she had her own baby, a baby
27:02
Speaker 1: that was born perfectly healthy, she kept him sick because
27:06
Speaker 1: it got her attention. She refused his father, his real father,
27:11
Speaker 1: Chris Hill, any custody so she could play the part
27:14
Speaker 1: of the poor single mother with a sick kid. She
27:18
Speaker 1: went so far as to manipulate doctors into implanting an
27:21
Speaker 1: unnecessary feeding tube into her baby's stomach. She put him
27:26
Speaker 1: through unneeded surgery so she would be able to control
27:29
Speaker 1: what went into his system, and it worked out great
27:32
Speaker 1: for her. She'd add salt to his feedings and she
27:35
Speaker 1: would have a continually sick baby that would tug at
27:38
Speaker 1: everybody's heartstrings. But then Garnet got older. He could eat
27:42
Speaker 1: on his own and talk, and people were noticing that
27:45
Speaker 1: he was not the sick child that she was describing.
27:48
Speaker 1: She knew she wouldn't be able to control her son's
27:50
Speaker 1: diet much longer, and soon he might tell someone what
27:54
Speaker 1: she had been doing. so she killed him. She overdosed
27:58
Speaker 1: him on salt and brought him into the hospital, but
28:01
Speaker 1: he got better. Coincidentally, right after Lacey learned that Garnet
28:05
Speaker 1: was going to be discharged, he got sick again. She
28:09
Speaker 1: was caught on camera giving him salt in the bathroom.
28:12
Speaker 1: The prosecution showed the video. They point out how Lacey
28:17
Speaker 1: came back out of the bathroom, put the nurse's call
28:19
Speaker 1: button down closer to her, and watched Garnet. Not like
28:23
Speaker 1: she's casually watching her sick child. She's watching him because
28:27
Speaker 1: she's waiting for something. Then he gets sick and she
28:31
Speaker 1: goes right for the call button that she had conveniently
28:34
Speaker 1: known to put within reach. The nurse comes in and
28:37
Speaker 1: Lacey plays the part of the concerned mother. But again,
28:41
Speaker 1: Garnet got better. Hospital staff would testify that after that point,
28:46
Speaker 1: she became very interested in his sodium level. She was
28:50
Speaker 1: learning that she wasn't giving him enough salt. So again,
28:54
Speaker 1: she's caught on camera, going into the bathroom, giving him
28:58
Speaker 1: more sodium. This time, Garnet got real sick, and when
29:02
Speaker 1: the nurse came in, she noticed that the port to
29:05
Speaker 1: Garnet's feeding tube was open. It hadn't been open the
29:08
Speaker 1: last time the nurse was in there, so within that time,
29:12
Speaker 1: someone opened it and forgot to close it. Curious. Garnet's
29:17
Speaker 1: transferred to the PICU, but still, he gets better. So
29:22
Speaker 1: despite being told not to give Garnet water because it
29:26
Speaker 1: could give him brain damage, she gives him water and
29:29
Speaker 1: essentially finally kills him, her own son. Then when her
29:34
Speaker 1: son is declared brain dead, what does she do? She
29:38
Speaker 1: calls a friend and asks, her to remove evidence from
29:41
Speaker 1: her apartment. Evidence that just happens to prove that she
29:45
Speaker 1: was poisoning her son with salt. Lacey goes on to
29:49
Speaker 1: claim that she never asked Valerie to go into her
29:51
Speaker 1: apartment and throw away the IV bag. She also said
29:55
Speaker 1: that she never put salt in the IV bag. This
29:58
Speaker 1: is where things become so unlikely there's no other option
30:02
Speaker 1: besides them being true. In order for Lacey to be innocent,
30:07
Speaker 1: Garnet has to have only ever been sick in the
30:10
Speaker 1: presence of her. He has to have only ever refused
30:13
Speaker 1: to eat in the presence of her. It has to
30:16
Speaker 1: be a massive coincidence that Garnet was happy and healthy
30:20
Speaker 1: before going into the bathroom with Lacey, and just happened
30:24
Speaker 1: to get sick just minutes after leaving the bathroom, twice
30:28
Speaker 1: in a row. Her own friend has to be lying
30:31
Speaker 1: about being asked to throw away evidence, and someone else
30:35
Speaker 1: has to have put salt into not only the IV
30:38
Speaker 1: bag that was on the pole in the living room,
30:41
Speaker 1: but the other one that was found in the garbage can.
30:44
Speaker 1: This is all a massive coincidence, and what's also a
30:47
Speaker 1: massive coincidence is that she just happens to be a
30:50
Speaker 1: compulsive liar, but she's not lying about this. She lied
30:55
Speaker 1: about who Garnet's father was, and she lied multiple times
30:58
Speaker 1: about not only what medical conditions Garnet had, but what
31:02
Speaker 1: medical conditions she had. She also conducts several internet searches
31:07
Speaker 1: regarding sodium poisoning and lethal doses of sodium in children.
31:11
Speaker 1: Lacey is one of those obviously guilty people who can
31:15
Speaker 1: sit there with a straight face, listen to all of
31:17
Speaker 1: the evidence that proves they're guilty, then shrug and go, huh,
31:21
Speaker 1: I didn't do it. They're comfortable claiming that these massive
31:25
Speaker 1: coincidences must have actually happened. To this day, Lacey maintains
31:31
Speaker 1: that she didn't kill her child, and she'll actually never
31:34
Speaker 1: admit she did. She's not capable. Her mental illness makes
31:38
Speaker 1: her unable to ever admit the truth. Like many other
31:42
Speaker 1: narcissistic murderers, it's like there's an anchor connected to their
31:46
Speaker 1: brain that will not allow them to admit what they did.
31:49
Speaker 1: They will go to their grave, adamantly denying they committed
31:52
Speaker 1: the crime that the evidence proves they committed. Lacey's second-degree
31:57
Speaker 1: murder charge was for depraved indifference, which means Garnet's death
32:01
Speaker 1: was caused because Lacey didn't care what happened to him.
32:05
Speaker 1: Her defense claims that she couldn't be guilty of depraved
32:08
Speaker 1: indifference because she was the only one who was trying
32:11
Speaker 1: to get him treated, showing that she did care. That's
32:14
Speaker 1: just stupid. She was taking him to get treated for
32:17
Speaker 1: an illness she was causing, you dope. That's the whole
32:21
Speaker 1: point of depraved indifference. She was doing something that caused
32:26
Speaker 1: him to be sick and didn't care if it killed him.
32:29
Speaker 1: On March 2nd, 2015... Lacey was found guilty of second-degree murder,
32:34
Speaker 1: and at sentencing, the judge expressed his disappointment in her
32:38
Speaker 1: unwillingness to admit her mistakes, but said that the fact
32:41
Speaker 1: that it was clear she suffered from Munchausen syndrome by
32:44
Speaker 1: proxy was a reason for his leniency. The maximum sentence
32:49
Speaker 1: was 25 years to life, but he sentenced her to
32:52
Speaker 1: 20 years to life. He told her that he hoped
32:55
Speaker 1: she would be open to getting treatment for her condition.
32:58
Speaker 1: It seems unlikely that Lacey will seek treatment for her condition, though.
33:02
Speaker 1: She did an interview with 48 Hours after her trial
33:05
Speaker 1: and claimed that she doesn't have Munchausen Syndrome because she
33:09
Speaker 1: was evaluated by a psychiatrist and they determined that she
33:12
Speaker 1: didn't suffer from any mental illness. But that was only
33:16
Speaker 1: to determine if she was fit to stand trial and
33:18
Speaker 1: that she couldn't plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
33:22
Speaker 1: That doctor wasn't tasked with determining if Lacey suffered from
33:25
Speaker 1: Munchausen Syndrome and if he did, she would have been
33:28
Speaker 1: evaluated for that separately. Every expert on Munchausen's syndrome by
33:33
Speaker 1: proxy said that Lacey is a textbook case. She meets
33:37
Speaker 1: almost every marker that are known signs of the syndrome.
33:41
Speaker 1: She can't ever seek treatment for it, though, because if
33:44
Speaker 1: she does, that means she admits she has it, and
33:47
Speaker 1: she admits that she actually killed her child. Lacey Spears
33:51
Speaker 1: will be eligible for parole in 2034, but if she
33:55
Speaker 1: continues to deny her guilt, she will likely not be approved,
33:59
Speaker 1: at least not right away. Lacey spent her life seeking
34:03
Speaker 1: sympathy from other people. She started by creating lies about herself.
34:08
Speaker 1: Then she started making other people's children sick. She eventually
34:12
Speaker 1: went on to have her own child with the explicit
34:15
Speaker 1: purpose of keeping them sick so she could get sympathy
34:18
Speaker 1: from other people, not just harming them once or even occasionally,
34:23
Speaker 1: but causing him immense suffering for his entire life before
34:27
Speaker 1: she finally killed him. Lacey Spears is a monster. If
34:33
Speaker 1: you're the victim of domestic abuse, please reach out to
34:36
Speaker 1: someone for help. Talk to your local shelter or call
34:39
Speaker 1: the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. Or
34:41
Speaker 1: you can go to thehotline.org to chat with someone online.
34:51
Speaker 1: This website is set up so that at any time,
34:53
Speaker 1: hitting the escape key twice will take you to a
34:55
Speaker 1: Google search page. That way, if your abuser is nearby,
34:59
Speaker 1: you won't get caught seeking help. If you're having feelings
35:02
Speaker 1: of harm in yourself or someone else, or even just
35:04
Speaker 1: need someone to talk to, please contact your local mental
35:07
Speaker 1: health facility, call 911, or call Mental Health America, who
35:11
Speaker 1: operate the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK. That's 1-800-273-8255.
35:19
Speaker 1: They're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
35:22
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for letting me tell you this story.
35:25
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed it, subscribe on whatever platform you're on,
35:27
Speaker 1: hit like, rate us, or leave us a comment. You
35:30
Speaker 1: can also check out our other show, Somewhere Sinister, on
35:33
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35:36
Speaker 1: to support the show, check out our new merch at Teespring.
35:39
Speaker 1: The link is in the description. Thanks again, and be safe.