Posted on 05/19/2011 11:28:42 AM PDT by raccoonradio
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (CBS) A mother from Texas was formally charged with two counts of second-degree murder Thursday in the death of her 6-year-old son.
Prosecutors say Julianne McCrery knowingly and recklessly caused the death of her son Camden Pierce Hughes by asphyxiation. No other details were revealed at her arraignment in Portsmouth District Court.
She did not enter a plea and responded yes, maam when asked if she wanted a court-appointed attorney.
It was the second time in a day McCrery appeared before a judge.
She was arraigned in Concord, Mass. District Court on a fugitive of justice charge Thursday morning. She waived rendition and was taken to New Hampshire.
Earlier Thursday, McCrerys attorney said his client is suicidal and wants to be in heaven with her son.
McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, was arrested in Massachusetts Wednesday night for the death of her son, Camden Pierce Hughes on May 14.
Hughess body was found Saturday evening along a road in South Berwick, Maine. A nationwide search was launched to find his identity.
Truck driver Stephen Scipione of Leominster told WBZ-TV he spotted McCrery at a rest stop off I-495 in Chelmsford Wednesday morning and called 911. State police arrived and took her into custody at the barracks in Concord. Sources told WBZ-TV that McCrery admitted to killing her son. She was examined at Emerson Hospital and brought back to the Concord barracks, where she met with her attorney, George Murphy.
He told reporters McCrery was crying and suicidal.
She wanted to be in heaven with her son, Murphy said. She kept saying it over and over again I want to die.
Murphy said she did not admit to him she killed her boy, even though police told him she confessed to this in detail.
An autopsy performed in Maine determined her son died of asphyxiation. It was ruled a homicide.
Sources told WBZ-TV that McCrery said she gave her son an overdose of cough syrup that resulted in his death. New Hampshire prosecutors would not confirm that in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Police spent much of Wednesday evening searching a room at the Stone Gable Inn on Route 1 in Hampton, New Hampshire where McCrery had been staying recently.
A school district representative from Irving, Texas told KVTV in Dallas that McCrery called her sons school in Irving Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to say her son would not be there because he was sick. The call on Wednesday came about an hour before police found McCrery.
She was charged late Wednesday with second-degree murder in New Hampshire.
McCrerry was ordered held without bail Thursday in Portsmouth. She is due in Hampton District Court for a probable cause hearing on May 26.
related
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/05/19/truck-driver-spotted-julianne-mccrery-at-chelmsford-rest-stop/
A truck driver from Leominster played a big part in solving the mystery of the boy found dead in Maine over the weekend.
Truck driver Stephen Scipione had been following the case of Camden Pierce Hughes closely. He called police Wednesday when he noticed a pick-up truck at a Chelmsford rest stop matching the truck described on TV and seen last Saturday in South Berwick.
As soon as I drove in, I noticed a blue Toyota with Navy around the back plate. So, I pulled over and just checked it out to see what was in it and (saw) a lady laying down in the front seat. Thats when I decided to call 911, said Scipione.
Read: Attorney: Julianne McCrery Wants To Be In Heaven With Son
Scipione said the blue pickup truck caught his eye because it was parked in an area with other tractor trailers, rather than with passenger cars.
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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/05/18/who-is-julianne-mccrery/
CONCORD, Mass. (CBS) Julianne McCrery was taken into custody by Massachusetts State Police Wednesday morning at a rest area in Chelmsford. It was the truck she was driving that got their attention. It was a blue Toyota Tacoma with an extended cab and Navy insignia on the license plate. It was the same truck someone in South Berwick, Maine said they saw hours before finding the body of a little boy on the side of a road.
McCrery was taken to the State Police barracks in Concord for questioning, and thats where sources say she admitted to killing her son, Camden Pierce Hughes, saying she gave him an overdose of medication.
McCrery is from Irving, Texas and has a criminal history in Texas where shes been arrested several times. Her most recent arrest was in 2009 when she was charged with prostitution. She was also arrested in 2004 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and in 2003 for prostitution. Those two cases were dismissed.
According to Dallas County family court it ordered biological testing in 2006 and found Camdens father is Phillip Robinette. In a handwritten letter from jail Robinette denies being Camdens father. In 2005 the same court found McCrery in contempt in a case that involved non-payment of child support.
McCrery is also the author of the book Goodnight, Sleep Tight, which is a book about overcoming sleep problems. In the About the Author section it says she was born in San Jose, Calif. in 1969 and made her home in Dallas since the early 1980s. It also says she has two (sons), one who is in the U.S. Navy and the other who is much younger, referring to Camden.
Oh, it was his MOM?
Poor woman. Probably under a lot of stress. Maybe a victim of abuse herself. If she had only reached out for help...
No young child should go through this.
My prayers are with him.
He was such a cute little guy,and to have such a cruel mother.
Sounds like it was intended to be murder-suicide and she hadn’t gotten around to killing herself yet
Because she'd been caught.
What was she doing so far from home and why did the truck driver know to look for her car? Guess I missed the background on this.
Not sure, mental issues, likely.
and why did the truck driver know to look for her car? Guess I missed the background on this.
Earlier news reports stated that a witness had seen this type of vehicle with that kind of plate in the area where the boy's body was found.
Those who knew her also said that she was known to take long spur-of-the-moment trips.
The haunting photo of this child, which ran in all of our newspapers up here when authorities were trying to identify him, touched many a heart. Everyone guessed that family “from away” did this to him still but hurt to hear the news. RIP little fellow.
Maybe she should have gone first.
What’s with the second degree crap? This was obviously premeditated murder. She called his school to make excuses? She took him from Texas where murder is a capital offense and kills him in New England where they don’t kill murderers?
Pardon me. She gets no sympathy from me. She was trying to get rid of her child support obligation so she could use her drugs in peace.
Thanks.
Sick, sick, sick.
Joining the club of Pure Evil.
What is it with these people?
I’d say that may be what she is saying but if she wanted to do that why not stay at home rather than drive so far and dump the body? Sounds more to me like premeditated and now she is trying to make it look like a murder sucide plot?
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