23-lb Disabled Teen Dies; Mom Arrested

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/crime/stor...110&floc=NW_1-T

 

Woman Charged in Death of Disabled Son

 

 

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (AP) - A woman was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her disabled teenage son, who weighed just 23 pounds, authorities said.

 

Emergency workers responding to a call for assistance Thursday morning found 15-year-old Seamus M. Leonard, who suffered from cerebral palsy, lying amid piles of trash.

 

An autopsy revealed the boy died of pneumonia and malnutrition was listed as a contributing cause, prosecutor Gary Pack said.

 

``The condition of this victim was worse than any victim I have ever seen,'' he said. ``It would bring anyone to tears.''

 

The mother, 44-year-old Kathy Leonard, was in custody Friday in lieu of $1 million bond. Another hearing was scheduled for March 17.

 

Leonard's public defender, Richard Behof, did not immediately return a call Friday.

 

Six other children, ages 3 to 17, were placed in protective custody. The home was deemed uninhabitable by the city's building department and county health department, police said.

 

``The house was in absolute squalor,'' Police Chief Howard Parth said.

 

Social workers visited the home in January 2003 after complaints of a fight between the children's father and one of the older sons. Stephen Leonard, 48, no longer lives in the home, officials said.

 

``There was no indication the home was in the condition it is now,'' DCFS spokeswoman Jill Manuel said.

 

Five of the six children - two boys and four girls - occasionally fed the victim, but they did not tell teachers or neighbors of the conditions in the home, according to Pack.

[syxx2001 0]

5 of the 6

2 boys and 4 girls?

 

Why wasn't he fed is my question.

[BX 0]

Crystal Lake? As in Camp Crystal Lake?

 

I'll forgo any Jason jokes.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

[Guest Skironox]

23 pounds? How is this possible?

[Guest Fook]

She threw her son's body out with the trash?

 

That's inhumane.

[2GOLD 0]

``There was no indication the home was in the condition it is now,'' DCFS spokeswoman Jill Manuel said.

 

Sure it wasn't.

And there wasn't a 23 pound disabled boy in another room.

 

In other words, they never really visited but they filed a report.

[Guest MikeSC]

23 pounds? How is this possible?

Well, I guess we know who won that whole "Eat your broccoli" battle in that family.

-=Mike

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I find it phyiscally impossible to be 23 pds. The bones alone could weigh that much. And no, I don't weigh human bones, so I'm not an expert.

[Guest MikeSC]

I find it phyiscally impossible to be 23 pds. The bones alone could weigh that much. And no, I don't weigh human bones, so I'm not an expert.

I'd have thought so also, but I always heard that the majority of our weight is water weight, basically.

-=Mike

[Highland 0]

An adult skeleton weighs about 23 lbs. and I am going to assume that this kid was so malnourished that his bones were brittle and underdeveloped, thus not weighing as much as they should.

Even if the reputed weight turns out to be an embelishment by the local media, this bitch still deserves life in prison, or the chair. Her kids too.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I find it phyiscally impossible to be 23 pds. The bones alone could weigh that much. And no, I don't weigh human bones, so I'm not an expert.

That's pretty much what I thought.

 

He has to be dwarf-like short at least.

[Guest MikeSC]

I find it phyiscally impossible to be 23 pds. The bones alone could weigh that much. And no, I don't weigh human bones, so I'm not an expert.

That's pretty much what I thought.

 

He has to be dwarf-like short at least.

I agree with Naibus, actually. You have to assume with such horrid nutrition that the bones have wasted away to virtually nothing.

-=Mike

[2GOLD 0]

Odds are very likely he is close to that person tortured with 'sloth' in "Se7en" I'm sorry to say. I'm also sorry to use that as an example but I couldn't think of any other way.

 

Brittle bones, probably broke his ribs and hip moving him.