A mother and her son are in the hospital Thursday night recovering from an overdose of prescription drugs. Jonesborough police discovered the two at their Miller Drive home at around 11 a.m.
"Over the years, you see tragic accidents of children and typically it makes you want to go home and hug your child," said Craig Ford, Jonesborough public safety director.
Thursday's case was especially hard for Jonesborough police.
"It's just beyond me how anyone can do something like that to something so innocent," said Ford.
A suicide call turned out to be much more. A mother police identify as Audrey Story told emergency crews she also gave her son prescription drugs.
"They were having a difficult time obtaining information from her as to the exact amount of the prescription drug that she actually has given the child," said Ford.
Police say the drug was Klonopin or Clonazepam, typically used as a tranquilizer and as a mood stabilizer.
"It appears as if she possibly put the pills in her hand and crushed them and placed them or forced them in the child's mouth," said Ford.
The Tri-cities has seen other cases like this. Andrea Petrosky drowned her son in Bristol, Virginia in 2005 and in May of this year Ivory Black Clark gave her six-year old daughter a deadly mixture of fruit juice and medications before Clark took her own life.
"It's extraordinarily rare for a parent to kill their own child," said said Chris Dula, clinical psychologist.
Dula says mothers in these types of cases often have a psychotic disorder and are delusional and paranoid.
"It's more likely that they believe they're doing good," said Dula.
That was the case with the Andrea Yates case in Texas who thought she was saving her kids from going to hell. On the other hand, the motivation is different for fathers.
"There are other cases that are more jealousy driven or rage driven," said Dula.
Police are saying why they believe story may have tried to kill her child and herself.
Police expect to charge Andrea Story at a minimum with aggravated child abuse, a class A felony that could send her to prison for up to 60 years. Her son is in protective custody Thursday night, but the next 24 hours will be critical to his survival.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement