Latest / This is monsters / Lacey Spears Part 01 _ Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

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Lacey Spears Part 01 _ Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy · This is monsters

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Speaker 1: In January of 2014, Lacey Spears took her five-year-old son, Garnet,
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Speaker 1: into the hospital, claiming that he had had multiple seizures.
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Speaker 1: The doctors there admitted him and hooked him up to
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Speaker 1: an EEG which would monitor his brain activity to determine
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Speaker 1: if he was having a full seizure or not. After
0:20
Speaker 1: days of observation, the boy never had an episode, so
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Speaker 1: he was scheduled to be discharged the following day. Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: Garnet became lethargic and began dry heaving. When the staff
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Speaker 1: ran blood tests, everything came back normal. The boy's sodium
0:36
Speaker 1: level was on the higher end but still in the
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Speaker 1: normal range. Over the next few hours, Garnet started to
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Speaker 1: get better and the staff still planned on discharging him.
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Speaker 1: Then it happened again, but this time Garnet had what
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Speaker 1: looked like a full-blown seizure. He stopped breathing and had
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Speaker 1: to be intubated. When they tested his blood again, his
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Speaker 1: sodium levels had shot up from 144 to a deadly 182.
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Speaker 1: Not only something that could kill him, but something that
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Speaker 1: was not medically possible to happen naturally. Somebody had intentionally
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Speaker 1: poisoned the five-year-old. This is Monsters. Munchausen Syndrome by proxy
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Speaker 1: is a condition where a person creates the appearance of
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Speaker 1: health issues in another person. The proxy in the name
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Speaker 1: represents the person that's being used as the sick person.
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Speaker 1: This separates the condition from Munchausen syndrome, which is where
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Speaker 1: a person makes up medical conditions for themselves. It's most
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Speaker 1: common with a parent creating false medical issues with a child.
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Speaker 1: It generally happens when the person lies about the proxy's condition,
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Speaker 1: but in extreme cases, the person can actually cause the
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Speaker 1: proxy to be sick. In the case of Amber Brewington
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Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was caught injecting salt water into
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Speaker 1: her four-month-old son's feeding tube while he was in the hospital.
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Speaker 1: She claimed that she was only trying to speed up
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Speaker 1: his death to end his suffering, but it was revealed
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Speaker 1: that the medical problems that caused him to be in
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Speaker 1: the hospital in the first place were caused by Amber.
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Speaker 1: It's unknown what causes the syndrome, but many times it's
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Speaker 1: a means of getting attention and sympathy from other people.
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Speaker 1: Some of the key signs that a parent may be
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Speaker 1: suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy are physical or laboratory
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Speaker 1: findings that are highly unusual, discrepant with patient's presentation or history,
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Speaker 1: or physically or clinically impossible. A parent who appears medically knowledgeable,
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Speaker 1: fascinated with medical details and hospital gossip, appears to enjoy
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Speaker 1: the hospital environment and expresses interest in the details of
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Speaker 1: other patients' problems. A highly attentive parent who is reluctant
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Speaker 1: to leave their child's side and who themselves seem to
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Speaker 1: require constant attention. The signs and symptoms of a child's
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Speaker 1: illness may lessen or simply vanish in the parent's absence.
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Speaker 1: A parent who seems to have an insatiable need for
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Speaker 1: adulation or who makes self-serving efforts for public acknowledgement of
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Speaker 1: their abilities. A child who inexplicably deteriorates when discharge is planned.
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Speaker 1: and a child that looks for cueing from a parent
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Speaker 1: in order to feign illness when medical personnel are present.
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Speaker 1: Lacey Spears was born on October 16, 1987, in Atwater, California.
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Speaker 1: She was the youngest of three children born to Terry
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Speaker 1: and Tina Spears. Terry was an aircraft mechanic at the
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Speaker 1: Castle Air Force Base, and only a few weeks after
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Speaker 1: Lacey was born, the family left to move to Decatur, Alabama.
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Speaker 1: They moved into Tina's parents' house and Terry began working
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Speaker 1: as a welder. Both of Lacey's parents had lifelong health issues,
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Speaker 1: Tina having type 1 diabetes and Terry having celiac disease
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Speaker 1: and Crohn's disease as well as being slightly deaf. As
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Speaker 1: a child, Lacey became overly attached to her dolls, pretending
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Speaker 1: that they were her babies. Once, a friend was overplaying
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Speaker 1: and when she picked up one of Lacey's dolls, Lacey
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Speaker 1: lunged at her and started strangling her. When the girl's
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Speaker 1: mother picked her up, she saw bruising around her daughter's
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Speaker 1: neck and the friendship was quickly dissolved. Lacey was closer
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Speaker 1: with her grandparents than she was to her own parents.
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Speaker 1: Relatives said that she didn't get along with Terry and
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Speaker 1: that Tina was a cold and emotionless parent. When Lacey's
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Speaker 1: grandfather died when she was 10 years old, she was devastated.
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Speaker 1: This was made worse by her grandmother moving to Clearwater,
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Speaker 1: Florida to live with her other son, Uncle Bo, to Lacey.
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Speaker 1: When Lacey was in middle school, she started staying over
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Speaker 1: at a friend's house for long periods of time, telling
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Speaker 1: her friend's mother that she had been molested by a
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Speaker 1: family member and was afraid to go home. The mother
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Speaker 1: reported the claim to the Alabama Department of Human Resources,
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Speaker 1: but there's no record of an investigation. Lacey had also
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Speaker 1: told neighbors that she was being molested and she would
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Speaker 1: spend periods of time there as well. Lacey's older sister, Rebecca,
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Speaker 1: would later say that she didn't know of any molestation
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Speaker 1: that happened to Lacey. Of course, it's possible that Rebecca
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Speaker 1: didn't know it was happening and any claim of sexual
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Speaker 1: abuse should be taken seriously. But Rebecca doesn't believe it
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Speaker 1: happened and in hindsight, based on the lengths that Lacey
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Speaker 1: will go for attention, it seems that the claims of
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Speaker 1: molestation may have been early examples of that behavior. It's
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Speaker 1: also noted by many people who knew her when she
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Speaker 1: was a teen that she was a compulsive liar. A
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Speaker 1: woman from her church said that she would regularly make
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Speaker 1: up a lie and if she didn't get the reaction
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Speaker 1: she wanted, she would then add an even bigger lie.
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Speaker 1: One time, she came into church wearing an ankle brace
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Speaker 1: and claimed to have sustained an injury while cheerleading. When
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Speaker 1: that story didn't seem to garner enough sympathy, she then
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Speaker 1: started telling people that she was anorexic and that she
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Speaker 1: had collapsed from lack of food. She then added that
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Speaker 1: she hadn't eaten in three days. When someone pointed out
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Speaker 1: that they had seen her eating a hot dog the
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Speaker 1: day before, she admitted that that was true, but said
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Speaker 1: that it was the only thing that she had eaten
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Speaker 1: in those three days. The summer before Lacey entered high school,
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Speaker 1: she began telling people that she was pregnant, but many
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Speaker 1: people didn't believe her. When she claimed to have had
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Speaker 1: an abortion at the Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham,
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Speaker 1: someone pointed out that they didn't perform abortions there. From
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Speaker 1: that point on, Lacey claimed the abortion happened in Florida,
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Speaker 1: Lacey's constant need for approval from parental figures became very
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Speaker 1: apparent in high school. Other students said that she became
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Speaker 1: a teacher's pet, which got her attention from teachers but
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Speaker 1: made her slightly unpopular with the other students. The friends
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Speaker 1: she did have said that she never dated, but she
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Speaker 1: was very vocal about becoming a mother. When one of
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Speaker 1: the other students became pregnant, Lacey brought in baby clothes
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Speaker 1: and talked about what she would have her own baby wear.
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Speaker 1: She eventually started doing volunteer work at the Parkview Baptist
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Speaker 1: Church nursery where she started paying special attention to one
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Speaker 1: boy named Charlie. Charlie's mother soon complained to the nursery
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Speaker 1: that Lacey made her uncomfortable and she was no longer
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Speaker 1: allowed to look after the young boy. After Lacey graduated
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Speaker 1: from high school, she moved into a two-bedroom apartment that
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Speaker 1: she shared with her sister, Rebecca. She got a job
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Speaker 1: at Kids Club Daycare in Decatur where she would care
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Speaker 1: for up to five babies at a time. Rebecca said
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Speaker 1: that she loved the job and would sometimes work from
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Speaker 1: opening at 5.30am to closing at 6pm. Right out of
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Speaker 1: high school, Lacey also briefly dated a young man named
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Speaker 1: Blake Robinson. He was a deputy with the Morgan County
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Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office and they only went on three dates. It's
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Speaker 1: not clear why the relationship didn't continue, but Blake would
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Speaker 1: later explain that they never had sex because he was
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Speaker 1: a strict Baptist. That information will become important later. Lacey
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Speaker 1: enrolled at Calhoun College to study nursing, and there she
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Speaker 1: met a single mother named Christy Burnham. Christy had a
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Speaker 1: 10-month-old son, Cameron, and soon Lacey was giving Christy rides
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Speaker 1: to school and volunteering to babysit Cameron. She would buy
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Speaker 1: him clothes, diapers, and even a crib. People said that
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Speaker 1: she became obsessed with Cameron and acted so much like
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Speaker 1: his mother when they were out in public that one time,
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Speaker 1: while Christy was out shopping with Cameron... someone asked if
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Speaker 1: she was babysitting Lacey's son. Christy found herself having to
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Speaker 1: explain to people that Cameron was her son. It turned
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Speaker 1: out that Lacey was not only making it look like
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Speaker 1: Cameron was her son, she was even blatantly telling people
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Speaker 1: he was her son. Christy also noticed that every time
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Speaker 1: Cameron would spend time with Lacey, he would develop an
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Speaker 1: ear infection and need to go to the doctor. When
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Speaker 1: Cameron was away from Lacey for an extended period of time,
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Speaker 1: he wouldn't get an ear infection, but then he would
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Speaker 1: go stay with Lacey and come home with one. In 2007,
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Speaker 1: Lacey was supposed to watch Cameron for the weekend, but
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Speaker 1: when Sunday rolled around, she never returned him. Christy finally
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Speaker 1: tracked Lacey down on Monday and demanded she return her child.
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Speaker 1: When Lacey showed up, Christy informed her that she was
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Speaker 1: never allowed to see Cameron again. Lacey cried and begged
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Speaker 1: her not to take Cameron away, but Christy was done
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Speaker 1: with Lacey. It didn't take long for Lacey to find
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Speaker 1: a new child to fill the void. Autumn Hunt had
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Speaker 1: begun bringing her six-month-old son, Jonathan, to kids' club. The
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Speaker 1: daycare closed at six, but her classes went until seven,
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Speaker 1: so Lacey offered to watch Jonathan. for the extra hour. Soon,
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Speaker 1: Lacey was calling the boy John-John, and she was buying
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Speaker 1: him toys, diapers, and formula, never asking for money from Autumn.
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Speaker 1: Autumn would eventually learn that Lacey was posting hundreds of
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Speaker 1: pictures of herself with Jonathan to her MySpace page. Remember MySpace? Hi, Tom.
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Speaker 1: and she was making it seem as if the boy
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Speaker 1: was her son. It was also discovered that Lacey was
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Speaker 1: taking Jonathan to various churches, pretending to be a single
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Speaker 1: mother so she could receive charity supplies that were meant
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Speaker 1: for needy mothers. Despite this discovery, Autumn allowed Lacey to
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Speaker 1: continue watching Jonathan. Autumn also started noticing that Jonathan would
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Speaker 1: always develop an ear infection after having been with Lacey.
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Speaker 1: He would have to go to the doctor, and like Cameron,
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Speaker 1: would be fine when he was at home with her
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Speaker 1: or her grandmother who also frequently watched him. Once he
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Speaker 1: went back into the care of Lacey, though, he'd get
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Speaker 1: another ear infection. By now, Lacey had dropped out of
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Speaker 1: college and was focusing all of her attention on other
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Speaker 1: people's children. During this time, Shauna Lynch started bringing her
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Speaker 1: two sons, Zach, who was older, and McKellie, who was
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Speaker 1: only 18 months old, to Kids Club where they were
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Speaker 1: cared for by Lacey. Shauna and Lacey became friends, and
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Speaker 1: soon Lacey said that she had grown attached to McKellie
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Speaker 1: and would offer to watch him outside of the daycare.
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Speaker 1: Shauna agreed, and in late 2007, Lacey would have both
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Speaker 1: Jonathan and McKellie at her house for periods of time.
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Speaker 1: Lacey told Shauna that John John was her son. Now,
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Speaker 1: I don't want to sound like a broken record, but
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Speaker 1: it wasn't long before McKellie began suffering from severe ear infections.
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Speaker 1: The boy's grandmother said that they got so bad that
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Speaker 1: pus would leak from his ears. Then Shauna met Autumn,
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Speaker 1: and it became clear that Jonathan was actually her son.
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Speaker 1: Lacey would later tell Shauna that Autumn was her stepsister
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Speaker 1: and she treated Jonathan as her own child as well.
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Speaker 1: This odd development didn't stop Shauna from becoming closer to Lacey. Soon,
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Speaker 1: Lacey confided in Shauna that she was actively being sexually
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Speaker 1: assaulted by a relative. She would call Shauna in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the night, claiming her abuser just left, and
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Speaker 1: then go over to her friend's house because she was scared.
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Speaker 1: Then she claimed to be pregnant and said that it
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Speaker 1: was her abuser's child. Shauna said it looked to her
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Speaker 1: like she was pregnant. She had a baby bump and
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Speaker 1: was gaining weight. Lacey began watching both McKellie and Zach
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Speaker 1: so much that she had her own key to Shauna's house.
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Speaker 1: Shauna's husband, Aaron, and his mother, Janine, saw a number
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Speaker 1: of red flags with Lacey and convinced Shauna to reduce
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Speaker 1: the amount of time she was spending with her. They
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Speaker 1: believed it was putting a strain on the family, and
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Speaker 1: Shauna agreed. When Shauna explained that she needed some distance
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Speaker 1: for the sake of her family, Lacey exploded and began
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Speaker 1: swearing and screaming at Shauna before storming out of the house.
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Speaker 1: Not long after that incident, Lacey went to Clearwater, Florida
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Speaker 1: to visit her grandmother and Uncle Bo. When she returned,
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Speaker 1: her friend said she was no longer pregnant. Shawna would
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Speaker 1: say in a later interview that she didn't know if
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Speaker 1: she miscarried or if she was actually ever pregnant, but
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Speaker 1: that she had definitely looked pregnant. I don't know if
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Speaker 1: anyone ever asked her if she physically saw Lacey's pregnant
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Speaker 1: belly or if she only saw it under clothes because
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Speaker 1: it wouldn't be the first time someone had faked a pregnancy.
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Speaker 1: After returning from Florida, Lacey started seeing a man who
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Speaker 1: lived in her apartment complex named Chris Hill. He was
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Speaker 1: a garage door installer and had seen her around the complex,
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Speaker 1: but one day she went down to his apartment and
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Speaker 1: asked for his help putting together a baby cradle. Chris
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Speaker 1: said that when he was done, one thing led to
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Speaker 1: another and they had sex. The two began dating and
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Speaker 1: a few times a week, Lacey would go down to
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Speaker 1: his apartment and they would have sex, then she would leave.
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Speaker 1: He said that she never spent the night and she
14:00
Speaker 1: was rather cold and emotionless in bed. He also found
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Speaker 1: it odd that she clearly loved children. He knew she
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Speaker 1: watched other people's children all the time, but she had
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Speaker 1: no interest in his five-year-old son when he would come
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Speaker 1: to visit. It seemed that Lacey had found a surrogate
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Speaker 1: to get her pregnant so she could finally have her
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Speaker 1: own child instead of claiming that other people's children were hers.
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Speaker 1: And it worked. In March of 2008, Lacey announced she
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Speaker 1: was pregnant and at first, she told Chris about the baby.
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Speaker 1: Chris says that Lacey suggested they get married, but Rebecca
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Speaker 1: says that Chris asked her to marry him. Either way,
14:37
Speaker 1: they began planning to get married and decided together that
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Speaker 1: they would name the baby Kaden. Then one day, Chris
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Speaker 1: said that Lacey decided the baby was going to be
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Speaker 1: named Garnet, which Chris didn't like, but she didn't care.
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Speaker 1: A few days later, Lacey told Chris that he wasn't
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Speaker 1: the baby's father and her ex-boyfriend Blake was. That was
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Speaker 1: a blatant lie, but it couldn't even be possible since
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Speaker 1: her and Blake had never reconnected after their three dates
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Speaker 1: and he said they never had sex. Lacey broke up
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Speaker 1: with Chris and began completely ignoring him. He tried to
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Speaker 1: talk to her, but she threatened to call the police
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Speaker 1: and get a restraining order, so Chris had no option.
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Speaker 1: He came to the realization that Lacey just used him
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Speaker 1: to get pregnant. and despite her denying it, he was
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Speaker 1: the baby's father. She would eventually admit that years later.
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Speaker 1: Garnet Spears was born on December 3rd, 2008. He was
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Speaker 1: born a healthy baby, and there were no complications with
15:34
Speaker 1: the birth. He was sent home with Lacey on Friday,
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Speaker 1: December 5th, but by Sunday, Lacey brought him into the
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Speaker 1: emergency room. She told the doctor that Garnet had a fever, jaundice,
15:46
Speaker 1: and was pulling at his ears, which is usually an
15:48
Speaker 1: indicator that a baby may have an ear infection. The
15:52
Speaker 1: doctor examined the boy and found him to be perfectly healthy.
15:56
Speaker 1: After Christmas, Lacey began bringing Garnet to both Decatur General
16:00
Speaker 1: Hospital and Southern Rural Healthcare Clinic almost daily complaining that
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Speaker 1: he wasn't eating, he was vomiting, and that he was
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Speaker 1: bleeding from his ears. The doctor said they never saw
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Speaker 1: him vomit and couldn't explain his other ailments. On January 13, 2009, Dr.
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Speaker 1: Melissa Young King wrote in Garnett's medical records that she
16:21
Speaker 1: suspected that Lacey had Munchausen syndrome by proxy. This would
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Speaker 1: be the first mention of Lacey having the condition, but
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Speaker 1: nobody followed up on it. On January 15, Lacey was
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Speaker 1: seen by an investigator from the Parental Assistance Agency to
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Speaker 1: prevent child abuse because the previous day, it was reported
16:41
Speaker 1: that she verbalized that she wanted to harm her child.
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Speaker 1: The medical staff had reported the comment to Alabama Social Services.
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Speaker 1: During the meeting, the investigator noted that Lacey didn't seem
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Speaker 1: to pay attention to her son. The investigator returned for
16:56
Speaker 1: follow-ups numerous times, but Lacey was never home and the
16:59
Speaker 1: investigation just seemed to disappear. In late January, Lacey brought
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Speaker 1: Garnett to Huntsville Hospital and told doctors that he was
17:07
Speaker 1: vomiting and not gaining weight. Doctors diagnosed Garnett with reflux
17:12
Speaker 1: and performed surgery to reduce his vomiting. This is one
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Speaker 1: of the signs of someone who suffers from Munchausen syndrome
17:19
Speaker 1: by proxy. They go to different doctors and medical facilities
17:24
Speaker 1: without informing them that they had seen other doctors. The
17:28
Speaker 1: staff at Huntsville Hospital had no idea that the staff
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Speaker 1: at Southern Rural Healthcare Clinic suspected that she was suffering
17:35
Speaker 1: from Munchausen. When Garnett was released from the hospital, Lacey
17:39
Speaker 1: took him to meet a friend for lunch and that
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Speaker 1: friend reported seeing Lacey get mad at Garnett for, quote-unquote,
17:45
Speaker 1: acting out, and she hit him on the leg. The
17:48
Speaker 1: friend said it seemed like she did it for no reason.
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Speaker 1: On February 1st, a different friend witnessed Lacey screaming at
17:55
Speaker 1: Garnett in a Walmart parking lot and was so concerned
17:59
Speaker 1: she reported it to the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
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Speaker 1: It's unknown if they responded. A few days after the
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Speaker 1: Walmart incident, Lacey took Garnet to yet another doctor, this
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Speaker 1: time a pediatric gastroenterologist who diagnosed the boy with failure
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Speaker 1: to thrive and reflux. He recommended that Garnet undergo a
18:19
Speaker 1: Nissen fundoplication, which would tighten the opening at the bottom
18:23
Speaker 1: of the esophagus. It would not only prevent Garnet from
18:26
Speaker 1: having acid reflux, but it would also prevent him from
18:29
Speaker 1: ever being able to vomit. It was only a few
18:33
Speaker 1: days after the operation that Lacey brought Garnet to the
18:36
Speaker 1: Southern Rural Healthcare Clinic and complained that he wouldn't take
18:39
Speaker 1: a bottle. When the doctor tried to get him to eat,
18:42
Speaker 1: using the bottle that Lacey had brought with her, she
18:45
Speaker 1: was unsuccessful, so she sent the baby to Decatur General
18:49
Speaker 1: Hospital to have a nasal feeding tube inserted. It's important
18:53
Speaker 1: to note that Lacey was not just bringing her son
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Speaker 1: to the hospital to get treatment. She was posting every
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Speaker 1: aspect of Garnett's medical treatment to her Facebook page. Every
19:03
Speaker 1: time her poor baby was in the hospital, she would
19:05
Speaker 1: make sure to get a picture of him hooked up
19:07
Speaker 1: to machines or with tubes coming out of his body.
19:11
Speaker 1: This time, she posted a picture of her unconscious baby
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Speaker 1: with a tube in his nose and captioned it, quote,
19:19
Speaker 1: Every time she posted a picture, she basked in the
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Speaker 1: attention she got from people wishing her child a quick recovery.
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Speaker 1: On February 11th, Lacey was back at Decatur General, claiming
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Speaker 1: that Garnet wouldn't take a bottle again. This time, a
19:34
Speaker 1: nurse was able to get him to drink from a
19:36
Speaker 1: bottle his mother had brought with her, but then he
19:38
Speaker 1: suddenly became lethargic. A blood test was done, and it
19:42
Speaker 1: revealed that Garnet had near-lethal levels of sodium in his system.
19:47
Speaker 1: Garnet was airlifted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at
19:50
Speaker 1: Children's of Alabama in Birmingham. There, he was given a
19:54
Speaker 1: spinal tap and doctors carefully lowered his sodium levels. The
19:59
Speaker 1: whole time, Lacey was posting gruesome photos of her baby
20:03
Speaker 1: near death on social media. When Garnet was out of
20:06
Speaker 1: the woods, so to speak, a gastrointestinal specialist was sent
20:11
Speaker 1: in to find out why the boy was having so
20:13
Speaker 1: much trouble eating, except she had no problem getting him
20:16
Speaker 1: to bottle feed. The doctor spent two days evaluating Garnet,
20:21
Speaker 1: and she experienced no problems getting the baby to eat.
20:24
Speaker 1: The hospital ran a battery of tests to find out
20:27
Speaker 1: what was wrong with the baby, but all the tests
20:30
Speaker 1: came back normal. This is another sign of someone who
20:33
Speaker 1: suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. They're happy to allow
20:38
Speaker 1: their child to be tested even if the test causes
20:41
Speaker 1: discomfort or even pain for the child. Lacey had no
20:45
Speaker 1: problem allowing her seemingly healthy child to undergo a multitude
20:49
Speaker 1: of tests and she happily posted about it on MySpace
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Speaker 1: the whole time. Children's of Alabama also began suspecting that
20:57
Speaker 1: Lacey was suffering from Munchausen, so they quarantined the boy
21:00
Speaker 1: from her for four days. Over those four days, Garnet
21:05
Speaker 1: ate normally and remained perfectly healthy. When they asked Lacey
21:09
Speaker 1: how she fed the boy, she told them that she
21:11
Speaker 1: used one part breast milk and three parts Pedialyte, which
21:15
Speaker 1: is an electrolyte drink to prevent dehydration, like Gatorade for babies.
21:20
Speaker 1: She claimed that a doctor had recommended that, but the
21:23
Speaker 1: hospital knew that couldn't be true. No doctor would recommend
21:27
Speaker 1: what she was doing as it would cause malnutrition. Despite
21:31
Speaker 1: all of these red flags, Garnett was discharged into Lacey's
21:34
Speaker 1: care on February 24th. This was what an overly litigious
21:39
Speaker 1: society has created. Doctors and hospitals regularly sweep information like
21:44
Speaker 1: this under the rug because they're too afraid of getting sued.
21:48
Speaker 1: Despite seeing red flags that a parent is suffering from
21:51
Speaker 1: Munchausen syndrome by proxy, they're hesitant to make that claim
21:55
Speaker 1: for fear the parent will sue them. So, despite all
21:58
Speaker 1: the warning signs, they hand the child back to the
22:01
Speaker 1: parent who they know is a danger to the child.
22:04
Speaker 1: At the end of March, Lacey was back at the
22:07
Speaker 1: Southern Rural Healthcare Clinic, but she was being seen by
22:10
Speaker 1: a different doctor about Garnett's chronic ear infections. She was
22:14
Speaker 1: referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist who found
22:17
Speaker 1: the amount of infections the boy had had to be
22:19
Speaker 1: very unusual. He operated on Garnet in an attempt to
22:24
Speaker 1: relieve some of the issue, but it didn't seem to
22:26
Speaker 1: have an effect. Of course, pictures of the baby with
22:29
Speaker 1: tubes coming out of his ears were posted to Lacey's
22:32
Speaker 1: new album on her MySpace page titled Garnet's Hospital Stays. Eventually,
22:37
Speaker 1: the ENT referred Garnett to another specialist, and when he
22:41
Speaker 1: sent over the medical records, he added a note that
22:44
Speaker 1: Lacey may be suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. This
22:48
Speaker 1: was the third mention of the syndrome by medical professionals
22:52
Speaker 1: in the six months since Garnett had been born. Almost
22:56
Speaker 1: every day, Lacey brought Garnett into Decatur General complaining that
23:00
Speaker 1: he'd vomited up everything she tried to feed him. The
23:03
Speaker 1: staff at the hospital didn't seem to know that the
23:05
Speaker 1: baby had had a procedure that made him incapable of vomiting,
23:09
Speaker 1: so they continued to be baffled and they alerted the
23:12
Speaker 1: Department of Human Services, but there are no records of
23:15
Speaker 1: an investigation. Then, on June 20th, Lacey brought her son
23:20
Speaker 1: into the hospital and he was bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose,
23:24
Speaker 1: and mouth. He was again airlifted to Children's of Alabama
23:28
Speaker 1: where he was treated. Lacey again posted photos of him
23:31
Speaker 1: lying in the hospital unconscious with tubes coming out of
23:35
Speaker 1: his body. The messages of sympathy poured in. As Lacey
23:39
Speaker 1: spent more time involved with Garnet's medical issues, she became
23:43
Speaker 1: less and less interested in Jonathan and eventually Autumn had
23:47
Speaker 1: to find a new babysitter. Not surprisingly, when Jonathan stopped
23:51
Speaker 1: seeing Lacey, his ear infections completely stopped. After a summer
23:56
Speaker 1: vacation in Clearwater to visit her grandmother and Uncle Bo,
24:00
Speaker 1: Lacey went to Decatur General and insisted that Garnet have
24:03
Speaker 1: a feeding tube surgically implanted. The staff refused, saying they
24:08
Speaker 1: didn't believe it was necessary. In turn, she went from
24:11
Speaker 1: hospital to hospital until she found a doctor at Children's
24:14
Speaker 1: of Alabama that agreed to the procedure. The doctor performed
24:19
Speaker 1: the operation on September 1st, and as soon as the
24:22
Speaker 1: baby was out of the operating room, Lacey posted a
24:25
Speaker 1: picture of him to MySpace with a caption that read, quote, Mommy,
24:29
Speaker 1: I feel bad. My belly hurts. Which is just an
24:33
Speaker 1: absolutely sickening thing to want to post on social media.
24:37
Speaker 1: What's worse is that she caused the child that pain,
24:40
Speaker 1: knowing full well he didn't need to endure it. It
24:43
Speaker 1: was for her own benefit, not for any medical benefit
24:46
Speaker 1: to the child. For the rest of Garnet's first year alive,
24:50
Speaker 1: Lacey would continue to take him to the doctor with
24:53
Speaker 1: frequent ear infections. By December, Lacey's social media consisted mainly
24:58
Speaker 1: of posts about Garnet's first birthday and then the Christmas holiday,
25:02
Speaker 1: but on January 3, 2010, she posted on Facebook that
25:07
Speaker 1: Garnet was now having seizures. In 2010, Lacey and her
25:12
Speaker 1: sister Rebecca began taking Garnet to churches to get donations.
25:17
Speaker 1: They would go to every church they could where Lacey
25:20
Speaker 1: would tell them that she had been molested by a
25:22
Speaker 1: family member and how Garnet had medical issues. Church members
25:26
Speaker 1: donated money to help her with bills and gave her
25:29
Speaker 1: toys and furniture. She once told a church official that
25:32
Speaker 1: she had just lost a child and showed him a
25:35
Speaker 1: forged death certificate. It's reported that she told church members
25:39
Speaker 1: that Garnet was born without muscles in his stomach, he
25:42
Speaker 1: had open-heart surgery, had cochlear implants, and that he had
25:46
Speaker 1: contracted MRSA, a serious staph infection. None of that was true.
25:52
Speaker 1: One church ended up asking her to leave due to
25:54
Speaker 1: her constant lying and stealing. In July of 2010, Lacey's
26:00
Speaker 1: Uncle Bo was transferred to hospice with terminal cancer and
26:03
Speaker 1: she volunteered to go to Clearwater to help care for
26:06
Speaker 1: her grandmother. She saw it as an opportunity to get
26:09
Speaker 1: away for a while. Kimberly Phillipson lived across the street
26:13
Speaker 1: from Lacey's grandmother and quickly became friends with Lacey. Garnet
26:17
Speaker 1: would come over to play with Kimberly's stepdaughters and she
26:20
Speaker 1: immediately noticed that he seemed to have no trouble eating.
26:23
Speaker 1: It seemed odd that he had a feeding tube. When
26:26
Speaker 1: Garnet's second birthday came around, the boy had no problem
26:29
Speaker 1: eating every piece of cake put in front of him.
26:32
Speaker 1: By now, though, Lacey was spending less time at the
26:35
Speaker 1: doctor or hospital and just posting online about how sick
26:38
Speaker 1: Garnet was. She was in a different state and she
26:41
Speaker 1: could post whatever she wanted about her son's health. She
26:45
Speaker 1: claimed he constantly refused to eat and he had ear
26:47
Speaker 1: infections and other medical symptoms. When Uncle Bo died, he
26:51
Speaker 1: left all of his money to his mother and Lacey
26:54
Speaker 1: had no problem spending it. She made improvements to the
26:57
Speaker 1: house and drove her grandmother's new car. She started joining
27:01
Speaker 1: every mother's group she could find where she told each
27:03
Speaker 1: group about her son's medical conditions. She breathed in the
27:07
Speaker 1: sympathy like it was the oxygen she needed to live.
27:11
Speaker 1: Some of these groups were where she became interested in
27:13
Speaker 1: holistic medicine. She began taking Garnet to a doctor of
27:17
Speaker 1: oriental medicine who had a degree in Chinese herbology. In
27:21
Speaker 1: the middle of April, she announced on social media that
27:24
Speaker 1: she was done with modern medicine. Most of 2010 consisted
27:29
Speaker 1: of Lacey getting attention by posting lies on social media
27:33
Speaker 1: and telling lies to the new friends she had made
27:35
Speaker 1: in Florida. She continued to claim that a family member
27:38
Speaker 1: was sexually assaulting her and she also told people that
27:41
Speaker 1: she had a brain tumor, celiac disease, and Crohn's disease.
27:46
Speaker 1: Another thing that happened in 2010 was that Lacey decided
27:50
Speaker 1: she wanted another baby. Oh good! One of her friends
27:54
Speaker 1: offered to let her sleep with her husband so she
27:57
Speaker 1: could get pregnant, and Lacey accepted, because that couldn't possibly
28:01
Speaker 1: backfire in any way. Well, surprise, surprise, it backfired when
28:06
Speaker 1: the friend got jealous. They tried to turn it into
28:08
Speaker 1: a threesome, but eventually the entire friendship fell apart. Shocking.
28:14
Speaker 1: Lacey also took her dislike of doctors up a notch
28:17
Speaker 1: and announced that she didn't believe in vaccinations. In January
28:22
Speaker 1: of 2011, Lacey posted about Garnet's ear infection. In March,
28:26
Speaker 1: she posted about his severe toothache. The day after that,
28:30
Speaker 1: she posted that he had a spinal disorder, claiming that
28:33
Speaker 1: Garnet's C1 disc was severely compressed. A few days later,
28:37
Speaker 1: the post was about an ear infection, and then a
28:39
Speaker 1: fever was the subject of her post a few days
28:42
Speaker 1: after that. This is what the next few years were
28:45
Speaker 1: like for Lacey Spears. a constant barrage of social media
28:49
Speaker 1: postings announcing all of her son's ailments. It was on
28:53
Speaker 1: March 31, 2012, that Lacey Spears killed Garnet's father. No,
28:59
Speaker 1: Chris was fine. This murder happened in the massive library
29:02
Speaker 1: of fiction that seemed to always be developing in Lacey's mind.
29:06
Speaker 1: Lacey liked to pretend that Garnet's father was a police
29:09
Speaker 1: officer named Blake. Sound familiar? Well, she realized that she
29:14
Speaker 1: could get more sympathy from people if she was not
29:17
Speaker 1: only the single mother to a chronically ill child, but
29:21
Speaker 1: also if that child's father was dead. On March 31st,
29:26
Speaker 1: she made a post on the Garnet's Journey Facebook page,
29:29
Speaker 1: which didn't include her family who knew who Garnet's father
29:32
Speaker 1: really was. It read, quote, Nine months ago, Garnet's father
29:38
Speaker 1: and my lifelong best friend... was tragically killed. Then she wrote, quote,
29:44
Speaker 1: Tonight while driving home, Garnet woke out of a deep
29:47
Speaker 1: sleep and simply said, Mommy, Daddy loves you. Get the
29:52
Speaker 1: fuck out of here. This load of utter bullshit tugged
29:56
Speaker 1: at everybody's heartstrings and Lacey was showered with comments telling
30:00
Speaker 1: her how strong and inspirational she was. From that point on,
30:04
Speaker 1: the Facebook page had constant posts about how Garnet was
30:08
Speaker 1: struggling without his father, when the truth was Garnet's father
30:12
Speaker 1: was alive and well and she refused to ever let
30:15
Speaker 1: him see his son. As Garnet approached school age, Lacey
30:19
Speaker 1: started looking into the best school for him to go to.
30:22
Speaker 1: She learned about Waldorf schools, which are schools that integrate
30:26
Speaker 1: a holistic approach to education. Lacey found the Green Meadow
30:30
Speaker 1: Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York, and thought it
30:33
Speaker 1: would be a perfect fit for her son. It coincidentally
30:36
Speaker 1: also had a lot of things that would benefit her.
30:39
Speaker 1: The school was part of a type of commune called
30:42
Speaker 1: the Fellowship. They had a system where a person could
30:45
Speaker 1: work for the Fellowship and return for room and board
30:48
Speaker 1: as well as a place for their child in the school.
30:51
Speaker 1: Lacey applied, filling the application with lies about Garnet's health
30:55
Speaker 1: and her own employment history and was accepted into the community.
30:59
Speaker 1: For the next few months, while they prepared to move
31:01
Speaker 1: to New York, Lacey continued to post on Facebook about
31:04
Speaker 1: Garnet's health crises and her late fiancé, Blake. When Lacey
31:10
Speaker 1: arrived at the fellowship, she was suddenly wearing a diamond
31:13
Speaker 1: engagement ring and told everyone she met about how her
31:16
Speaker 1: beloved Blake had died in a car accident. People in
31:19
Speaker 1: the community listened to her talk about all of Garnet's
31:22
Speaker 1: health problems, but when they saw him, they noted that
31:25
Speaker 1: he seemed perfectly healthy. Two days after arriving, Lacey took
31:30
Speaker 1: Garnet to the on-site doctor, complaining that the boy had
31:33
Speaker 1: an ear infection. The doctor referred her to a pediatrician
31:37
Speaker 1: in the area, but she wouldn't actually make an appointment
31:39
Speaker 1: there for four months. Lacey moved into an apartment which
31:43
Speaker 1: she would share with a fellow member named Christine O'Brien.
31:47
Speaker 1: Christine had been out of town at the time, but
31:49
Speaker 1: when she returned, she said she noticed that some of
31:52
Speaker 1: her clothes and other personal items were missing from her bedroom.
31:56
Speaker 1: After seeing Lacey wearing her clothes and spotting some of
31:59
Speaker 1: her items in her bedroom, she confronted her about it,
32:03
Speaker 1: but Lacey just walked away without answering. Christine complained to
32:07
Speaker 1: the fellowship leaders, but they told her to just let
32:10
Speaker 1: it go. Not wanting to make waves, she did. One morning,
32:15
Speaker 1: Christine glanced into Lacey's room and saw her doing something
32:18
Speaker 1: with a tube in Garnet's stomach. When she later asked
32:21
Speaker 1: about it, Lacey told her about all of Garnet's health
32:24
Speaker 1: problems and how he had to be fed through a
32:26
Speaker 1: feeding tube because he had trouble eating. Christine would later
32:29
Speaker 1: say that she never saw Garnet have a problem eating.
32:33
Speaker 1: She did say that later that morning, she saw Garnet
32:36
Speaker 1: outside and he was lethargic and complained that his ears hurt.
32:40
Speaker 1: As time went on, Christine would see Lacey lose her
32:43
Speaker 1: temper with her son quite often. When she didn't think
32:46
Speaker 1: anyone was looking, she would yell at him and grab
32:49
Speaker 1: him hard or yank his arm. When he would start crying,
32:52
Speaker 1: she would immediately pick him up and start soothing him.
32:56
Speaker 1: It was like she needed to cause him pain so
32:58
Speaker 1: she could then comfort him. Then, Christine started hearing Lacey
33:02
Speaker 1: screaming at Garnet while she was giving him a bath
33:05
Speaker 1: at night. He would say, quote, Mommy, that doesn't feel good,
33:09
Speaker 1: and she would yell at him to shut up. Christine
33:12
Speaker 1: expressed her concern for Garnet's safety to the leadership, but
33:15
Speaker 1: they told her to not make trouble. She eventually left
33:19
Speaker 1: the fellowship because she couldn't keep living with Lacey. Una
33:23
Speaker 1: Younger also quickly became friends with Lacey and she would
33:26
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time with her and Garnet. She
33:28
Speaker 1: would later say that Garnet had no problem eating, including
33:31
Speaker 1: hamburgers and even spicy Chinese dishes. People in her Facebook
33:36
Speaker 1: group started noticing that Lacey would post about Garnet being
33:39
Speaker 1: sick and going to the hospital one day, then post
33:42
Speaker 1: pictures of him playing in the snow and sledding the
33:45
Speaker 1: next day. It seemed that Garnet was only sick when
33:48
Speaker 1: Lacey needed a boost of sympathy from people on social media.
33:53
Speaker 1: It wasn't until March 22, 2013, that Lacey would finally
33:57
Speaker 1: take Garnet to the pediatrician she was referred to four
34:00
Speaker 1: months earlier. When he asked her for Garnett's medical history,
34:04
Speaker 1: Lacey told the doctor that Garnett had aspirated at birth
34:07
Speaker 1: and had to be transferred to the intensive care unit.
34:11
Speaker 1: She said that by the time he was two months old,
34:13
Speaker 1: his weight had dropped to less than four pounds and
34:16
Speaker 1: he had to have abdominal surgery at nine weeks. She
34:19
Speaker 1: claimed that he developed seizures soon afterwards. She said he
34:24
Speaker 1: had to be placed on life support for six weeks
34:26
Speaker 1: and soon after had the feeding tube placed in his stomach.
34:30
Speaker 1: She also told him that Garnett had a history of
34:32
Speaker 1: increased sodium and MRSA, which caused frequent ear infections. After
34:37
Speaker 1: an examination, the doctor found Garnett to be perfectly healthy.
34:41
Speaker 1: He was referred to another ear, nose, and throat doctor
34:44
Speaker 1: for his chronic ear infections and to a pediatric gastroenterologist
34:49
Speaker 1: to determine if the boy still needed a feeding tube.
34:52
Speaker 1: When she took Garnett to the gastroenterologist... She told him
34:55
Speaker 1: that her son had been diagnosed with celiac disease and
34:59
Speaker 1: Crohn's disease, which he never was. The doctor told her
35:03
Speaker 1: to schedule Garnett for a feeding evaluation to see how
35:06
Speaker 1: many nutrients he was getting overall compared to how many
35:09
Speaker 1: he was getting through the feeding tube, but she never did.
35:13
Speaker 1: The doctor would later say that he asked her multiple
35:15
Speaker 1: times to schedule the evaluation, but she just wouldn't. Now,
35:20
Speaker 1: as a parent, if my son had a tube sticking
35:23
Speaker 1: out of his stomach and there was the slightest chance
35:25
Speaker 1: that it could be removed, I'd be jumping at the chance.
35:29
Speaker 1: Lacey knew that the feeding tube was completely unnecessary and
35:32
Speaker 1: an evaluation would prove that. She didn't want the tube removed, though,
35:37
Speaker 1: because it was her means of control over Garnet. She
35:41
Speaker 1: could use that tube to put whatever she wanted into
35:43
Speaker 1: his system, keeping him sick and keeping herself showered in sympathies.
35:48
Speaker 1: She would later post on Facebook, quote, Worst feeling knowing
35:52
Speaker 1: your child is in pain and discomfort and not being
35:55
Speaker 1: able to take it away. Something we all know was
35:58
Speaker 1: just talk. Lacey Spears was not interested in taking away
36:02
Speaker 1: her son's discomfort. She was the one who was causing it.
36:06
Speaker 1: As Garnet grew, she would realize that she was losing
36:09
Speaker 1: control of him and would take more drastic measures to
36:13
Speaker 1: continue her charade. This episode became quite a bit bigger
36:17
Speaker 1: than I thought it was going to, so I'm splitting
36:19
Speaker 1: it in half and will post the exciting conclusion tomorrow.
36:23
Speaker 1: Don't worry, you don't have to wait until Monday. As
36:25
Speaker 1: you're watching this part, I'll be furiously working on the
36:28
Speaker 1: second half. See you tomorrow. If you're the victim of
36:33
Speaker 1: domestic abuse, please reach out to someone for help. Talk
36:36
Speaker 1: to your local shelter or call the National Domestic Abuse
36:39
Speaker 1: Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. Or you can go to thehotline.org
36:48
Speaker 1: to chat with someone online. This website is set up
36:51
Speaker 1: so that at any time, hitting the escape key twice
36:54
Speaker 1: will take you to a Google search page. That way,
36:56
Speaker 1: if your abuser is nearby, you won't get caught seeking help.
37:00
Speaker 1: If you're having feelings of harm in yourself or someone else,
37:03
Speaker 1: or even just need someone to talk to, please contact
37:05
Speaker 1: your local mental health facility, call 911, or call Mental
37:09
Speaker 1: Health America, who operate the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK.
37:12
Speaker 1: That's 1-800-273-8255. They're available 24 hours a day, 7 days
37:15
Speaker 1: a week. Thanks again, and be safe.