Asperger Help

Thursday, May 18, 2006
BY KAREN MCDONALD
OF THE JOURNAL STAR
PEKIN - Hours after allegedly killing her 3-year-old autistic daughter, Dr. Karen McCarron tried to overdose on over-the-counter medication.
She told police she "had just wanted to end her pain and (her daughter's) pain."
Toddler Katherine "Katie" McCarron had retreated into her own autistic world Saturday afternoon and wouldn't take a nap, according to court documents.
So Karen McCarron told her mother, who was visiting the family's Morton home, she planned to take Katherine for a car ride - as was common - to calm her down, Morton Police Chief Nick Graff said Wednesday.
But on this trip, McCarron drove to her mother's Morton home, placed a plastic garbage bag over her daughter's head and suffocated her, Graff said. She returned home to her mother and 2-year-old daughter, Emily, and took her dead daughter to her bedroom.
McCarron originally told police she tried to wake Katherine from a nap but found her
not breathing. Another visiting family member called 911 about 4 p.m. while Karen McCarron performed CPR on her child, who later was pronounced dead at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
McCarron was not yet a suspect in the case Saturday evening and was allowed to return home, Graff said.
Mother's Day confession
Early on Sunday, Mother's Day, emergency crews again were called to the McCarron home at 390 E. Idlewood St., but this time for Karen McCarron, who had overdosed on some type of medication, Graff said.
Police found Karen and husband Paul, who had just returned from a business trip in North Carolina, in an upstairs bedroom embracing one another. Paul was crying, but Karen, who had told her husband she put a plastic bag over their child's head to calm her down, was unemotional, court documents stated.
When police asked Karen what happened, she replied, "Nothing is going to help and it's not going to make any difference."
Paramedics took Karen McCarron to St. Francis, where she told police "she had just wanted to end her pain and Katie's pain" and admitted to killing her daughter, Morton police Detective Ray Ham wrote in an investigation report.
McCarron, 37, a certified pathologist with no previous criminal record, now faces two charges of first-degree murder, each of which are punishable by 20 to 60 years in prison.
Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz said he does not plan to seek the death penalty, and no one else is expected to be charged.
"Obviously, this is a tragic circumstance. It's a terrible incident anytime a mother would be charged with murdering her child. But it's particularly troubling when it occurs over Mother's Day weekend," Umholtz said.
He would not discuss the mother's mental state or whether she is being treated for any conditions.
Karen McCarron, a pathologist, worked at Methodist Medical Center and Proctor Hospital and occasionally filled in at Pekin Hospital. She also was a volunteer clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, officials said.
She is scheduled for a June 8 preliminary hearing in court.
Remembering Katherine
At Katherine's visitation Wednesday evening, a program showed Jesus cuddling a child in his lap with his hand on another child.
People stood around weeping. There were pictures of Katherine on a swing and in a red coat. In one photo, she was on a man's shoulders with her head thrown back in apparent glee.
Dr. David Ayoub said he met with Karen McCarron shortly after her daughter was diagnosed with autism.
"She was very dedicated to trying to get treatment for her daughter," Ayoub said. "I've met with a lot of parents who are dealing with autistic children, and she was one of the most loving mothers. This is a story that's been played over and over again. Homicide, suicide. The families just don't have the support."
The brain disorder in autism interferes with the ability to interact and communicate to others and causes difficulties with communication, motor skills, social and play skills, and coping with their environment.
Sue Grimm of Groveland, who has two autistic children, said she thought McCarron was a fantastic mother.