Police: Autism was motive in Colo. child's killing

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...sigh


Police: Autism was motive in Colo. child's killing

(AP) – 22 hours ago

BOULDER, Colo. — Police say a woman accused of killing her infant son did it because she believed the boy was autistic and thought his condition would "ruin" her life.

Stephanie Rochester, 34, was charged Monday with murder in the June 1 suffocation death of her 6-month-old son, Rylan. According to an affidavit seeking her arrest, Rochester wanted to commit suicide but didn't want to "burden her husband" with the potentially autistic boy.

The affidavit says that the night before the infant died, Stephanie and Lloyd Rochester "talked about how they wanted to have fun in life."

"Stephanie said that she knew they would not have fun while they were caring for a severely autistic child," according to the affidavit, written by Boulder County sheriff's Detective Mark Spurgeon.

The woman told police she had worked with autistic children as a hospital counselor and believed her son had the developmental disorder, which affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. Pediatricians said Rylan was progressing normally.

Stephanie Rochester's lawyer, Boulder County public defender Megan Ring, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Spurgeon wrote that the night Rylan died, his mother placed three baby blankets on top of his face, then went downstairs to plan a vacation to Cape Cod with her husband. She got up around 2:30 a.m. and put more blankets over the baby, police said.

At about 6 a.m., Stephanie Rochester took the blankets off Rylan's head and "just lost it when she realized what she had done," according to the affidavit. She and Lloyd Rochester took Rylan to Avista Hospital in Louisville, where he was pronounced dead.

Rochester was being held on suicide watch. She's due back in court for a status conference June 24 and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Sept. 8.

Rochester's friends and family, including her mother, were in the courtroom Monday, but her husband was not.

District Attorney Stan Garnett told the Daily Camera newspaper that he is unlikely to seek the death penalty in the case.

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... QD9G777CG0

This is one reason why I do not trust most professionals who deal with autistic people - especially mental health professionals. I believe that most of them either do not like us or feel superior towards us.

This person makes me sick, I hope she gets put away for life.

The part of the story that really scares me, though, is this: "The woman told police she had worked with autistic children as a hospital counselor"

I hope she gets life without parole but not the death penalty. Let her sit and think about what she had done for the rest of her life instead of "having fun"

I would have taken that kid. I hope she rots in Hades.

This is only the beginning. Her attitude is the very one that Autism Speaks is promoting through million-dollar ad campaigns: Autistic children are a burden and a humiliation to their families.

Until that message is stopped and countered, incidents like this will increase in frequency.

You know, she said she wanted to commit suicide. I say we help her out with that...

I try to avoid the "people like this" mentality but...



Feel free to quote me on that.

I think you may very well be right.

Me too. As long as the high functioning like us are also ostracized from society and treated like outcasts, we will have an increase in mass murder sprees as well. This works both ways. At one time, many autistic people were accepted for their talents, and this was before there was a name for our condition.

Me too. As long as the high functioning like us are also ostracized from society and treated like outcasts, we will have an increase in mass murder sprees as well. This works both ways. At one time, many autistic people were accepted for their talents, and this was before there was a name for our condition.

Exactly!

This is why I get so upset and passionate about promoting positive Autism Awareness. People wonder why I get so mad at people like Jenny McCarthy and Autism Speaks!
"Calm down...why do you get upset?" TA DA!

Sorry, Im very angry and sad!

I have a double posting problem recently.

Last edited by liloleme on 09 Jun 2010, 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That b***h makes me sick. I hope she gets fired from her job, and I also hope that she's locked up, for life. A mother like that, she's not even a mother...she's a murderer, deserves to be locked up for life, or executed. Thanks for making our lives a living hell, Jenny McCarthy and Autism Speaks!

Or before the movie Rain Man made it's inevitable debut, on the silver screen, in the cold November of 1988.

She diagnosed a six-month-old? That sounds suspect. Seriously, what issues did she see? At that age, being completely nonverbal is no cause for concern; at that age, fixations/special interests will not be apparent...

Is no one going to point that out?

As to the woman herself, I hope she repents and turns to the Lord. I hope her soul can find some peace; she must be in a great deal of torment, to make a choice like that.