A Lakeview mother who was reportedly suffering from severe postpartum depression has been charged with first-degree murder in the suffocation death of her 8-month-old son earlier this year.
Janet Thies-Keogh, 30, cried quietly in court while prosecutors detailed the Feb. 7 death of her son, Colin, in their condo in the 3900 block of North Ashland Avenue.
Prosecutors said Keogh’s husband left their home at about 6:30 p.m. to play tennis with friends. About an hour later, he called and asked Thies-Keogh how she was doing, and she replied, “Not good. You’d better come home.”
“She kept saying, ‘It’s too late. It’s too late,’” said Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini.
While he rushed home, the woman’s husband called 911 and told dispatchers he thought his wife “may have done something to his baby or herself,” Santini said. In a second call to 911, the husband said "my wife just suffocated my baby," Santini said.
Police arrived and found Colin unresponsive on a bed in the master bedroom. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Thorek Memorial Hospital. An initial autopsy was inconclusive, but after further tests, the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled earlier this week that the baby was suffocated in a homicide, court records show.
Thies-Keogh, who is originally from Des Plaines, was arrested Wednesday that suburb, according to police reports, which note she was “suicidal and taking medication for depression.”
Her attorney, Thomas Brandstrader, said Thies-Keogh was hospitalized for several weeks after the incident and has been under intensive psychiatric care since being released, apparently suffering from postpartum psychosis. She is a college graduate and had worked for a beer distributor until January, he said.
“This is the saddest case I’ve ever seen,” Brandstrader said. “Her husband and family are devastated.”
Thies-Keogh has no criminal background, according to prosecutors. A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said in February that the agency had no contact with the family before being called in to investigate the boy’s death.
Judge Israel Desierto set bond at $500,000.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-cops-lakeview-woman-suffocated-8monthold-son-20110414,0,622189.story?track=rss
Janet Thies-Keogh, 30, cried quietly in court while prosecutors detailed the Feb. 7 death of her son, Colin, in their condo in the 3900 block of North Ashland Avenue.
Prosecutors said Keogh’s husband left their home at about 6:30 p.m. to play tennis with friends. About an hour later, he called and asked Thies-Keogh how she was doing, and she replied, “Not good. You’d better come home.”
“She kept saying, ‘It’s too late. It’s too late,’” said Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini.
While he rushed home, the woman’s husband called 911 and told dispatchers he thought his wife “may have done something to his baby or herself,” Santini said. In a second call to 911, the husband said "my wife just suffocated my baby," Santini said.
Police arrived and found Colin unresponsive on a bed in the master bedroom. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Thorek Memorial Hospital. An initial autopsy was inconclusive, but after further tests, the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled earlier this week that the baby was suffocated in a homicide, court records show.
Thies-Keogh, who is originally from Des Plaines, was arrested Wednesday that suburb, according to police reports, which note she was “suicidal and taking medication for depression.”
Her attorney, Thomas Brandstrader, said Thies-Keogh was hospitalized for several weeks after the incident and has been under intensive psychiatric care since being released, apparently suffering from postpartum psychosis. She is a college graduate and had worked for a beer distributor until January, he said.
“This is the saddest case I’ve ever seen,” Brandstrader said. “Her husband and family are devastated.”
Thies-Keogh has no criminal background, according to prosecutors. A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said in February that the agency had no contact with the family before being called in to investigate the boy’s death.
Judge Israel Desierto set bond at $500,000.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-cops-lakeview-woman-suffocated-8monthold-son-20110414,0,622189.story?track=rss
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