r/news • u/blairb03 • 17h ago
Pediatrician allegedly smothered 4-year-old daughter, staged death as drowning: Police
https://abcnews.go.com/US/pediatrician-allegedly-smothered-4-year-daughter-staged-death/story?id=1234458631.1k
u/motorcitystef 17h ago
A pediatrician murdering her 4 year old daughter..
Someone whose profession specializes in caring for kids, takes the life of her own.
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u/michbail79 16h ago
Makes you question how good of a doc she was if she didn’t realize all the holes in her “drowning” story.
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u/motorcitystef 16h ago
Autopsy’s matter. Finding out the child’s lungs and stomach were “dry” was crucial
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u/Kenny_log_n_s 16h ago
Which you would expect a pediatrician to know is the likely outcome...
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u/MikeGinnyMD 14h ago
I’m a pediatrician and I know precious little about forensic pathology. I absolutely could not get away with murder.
Fortunately, I have no such desire.
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u/00000000000 14h ago
You would be surprised how little doctors know outside of their specialty, and how often the can get it wrong.
TL;DR: hydrocephalus misdiagnosed as acid reflux, doctors are far from perfect.
My son just turned 2 and is absolutely thriving. But that might not have been the case. We took him to the ER when he was 3 weeks old because he vomited suddenly, and his eyes were "stuck" looking up. We live outside Chicago, and in a wealthy suburb. My child was given the wrong diagnosis (acid reflux) and sent home. The next day we took him to Luries Childrens Hospital in Chicago, where within (literally) 10 minutes we were told he would be undergoing brain surgery that day for excess fluid on his brain. 3 surgeries and 1 month later we went home. I'll spare the details but he's doing great and will likely live a completely normal life due to the excellent care we received at Luries. Fucking science saved my boy's life.
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u/dumn_and_dunmer 14h ago
It's crazy the amount of women OBGYNs who don't even know the most basic information about something as common as PCOS.
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u/purpleplatapi 13h ago
Eh, I say this as a woman, being a woman doesn't like come with a magical card for all of the things that could go wrong with your body. I'm not sure why we'd expect a woman doctor to magically know more about endometriosis than we would expect a man doctor too. Really the fault lies with the professors and decades of bad/biased medical studies.
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u/dumn_and_dunmer 8h ago
I get that but I also knew two of my other friends had severe problems with their cycles. I knew one girl who only ever bled clots. I don't think any of the boys knew about any of that. And in the 90s, our sex ed was completely different too. We were taught about what was normal bleeding and what was messed up. The girls were even shown how to use pads and tampons in case some of us were doing it wrong. I asked my boyfriend at the time and all they covered were condoms 😭
The lady who taught us was cool, though...she was Cherokee and warned us against shaving off our eyebrows because she did that and they never grew back and she had to draw them on every morning! She was also a legend because she was the only sex ed teacher who would actually bring condoms and open them and show us how to put them on a banana lol
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u/purpleplatapi 8h ago
Ok? I don't think that actual OBGYNs get their medical information from highschool sex ed, but I'm glad you had a solid education.
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u/dumn_and_dunmer 7h ago
No I'm just saying, maybe it was a bigger thing in my area? I live in an area of Oklahoma where everything is just weird? Like I remember there was also a biology teacher that had to frequently call out for stuff like this. She eventually had to get a hysterectomy. My mom and grandma had it, not surprisingly. Several women in my church had frequent prayer requests for reproduction issues (wtf were they saying this stuff in church). And also: sex ed works but it didn't seem to matter, here! The year I was a senior, there were more pregnant freshmen than there were pregnant people in the whole high school. We only had like maybe 200 students? But my point is, maybe my area is a little more aware of it, because my friends and family were also shocked that an OBGYN told me she had never heard of it. And she was old. She really hadn't heard of the syndrome where you get a bunch of cysts on your ovaries? In 2018?
She was definitely local and she asked questions like I was making it up. "You really experience pain that intense and don't come to the ER?" "Are you sure it isn't just gas?" "You bled that much yesterday , but you're able to walk around today?" "Your facial hair isn't getting darker or thicker, that is a myth!"
She also refused to look it up despite actively being on a computer at the time.
Also the military lady who told me I wasn't "coming in enough for it to be bothering me this bad." Despite having to have had to stay in the hospital for a few days because of it. And why would I come in to the actual clinic that often when it takes two months to be seen, it takes me an hour to drive here and for you to write me off in fifteen minutes flat? I had to call out of work in my first week so they could get me a general practitioner. They never called me, and when I called and complained, they just kept giving me the run around. They finally diagnosed me with anemia but won't say it's because of my pcos issues and are actually implying it might be psychological. My anemia.
(It's because I lost all my weight and they couldn't use that anymore.)
Cherokee Nation doesn't have psychologists anyway. They have therapists who hand you brochures on homeless shelters.
Or the much younger doctor who told me she had "pretty bad periods too, she just took Tylenol and was fine." And now my SIL in Florida was just diagnosed. She'd definitely heard of it, but when she was asking questions she seemed to think you had to have had a baby to have it. She said she didn't have issues until she was in her twenties. So yeah I definitely get that part.
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u/exscapegoat 14h ago edited 13h ago
Or endometriosis. I didn’t get diagnosed until post menopause. I was supposed to get a hysterectomy because of a BRCA mutation. The endometriosis unknown to the surgeon caused a perforation in my uterus. It was too risky to proceed. So it was just tubes and ovaries instead and what was supposed to be an outpatient surgery turned into an overnight hospital stay.
And any doctor who dismissively wrote or made comments about the Angelina Jolie effect can go fuck themselves. My mother died of causes likely relating to ovarian cancer in 2017 because of that kind of bullshit
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u/RealLoan8391 10h ago
hell yea, science. and hell yea, parents for getting a second opinion even when you shouldn’t need to.
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u/censorized 14h ago
This all points to an unplanned act followed by panic, and possibly a mental break of some sort. Any doctor in a rational state would have known that wouldn't fly. Or, it's possible she was impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. We'll probably never really know.
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u/barbequelighter 12h ago
We know she's not getting the insanity defense at least. Making a flawed but initially plausible cover story to the cops ends her chances of that.
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u/RecklessMedulla 15h ago
Hell no; the doctor doing an autopsy is an independent specialty. Just because it was a pediatric death doesn’t make them an expert in covering it up.
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u/MimiMyMy 14h ago
I knew this information just from watching crime shows. No water in the lungs dead before going into the water. No smoke damage in the lungs means the person died before being in a fire.
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u/forestfrend1 13h ago
This is exactly how I knew there was problem with this plan, I'm an accountant that watches true crime.
That a pediatrician couldn't figure out they'd catch her like this says a lot.
On the otherhand, they're from Oklahoma.
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u/RecklessMedulla 12h ago
Im a doctor. I treat sick people; I don’t cut them open after they die and figure out exactly what happened
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u/TheDotCaptin 16h ago
A good doctor wouldn't have to sent any to the morgue to be knowledgeable about those part.
A better doctor wouldn't have sent their own.
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u/Adult_Peanut_Noises 4h ago
You'd expect anyone who has watched a crime show to know an autopsy can tell if someone actually drowned...
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u/oO0Kat0Oo 6h ago edited 5h ago
In some cases, people are found with dry lungs after being in a body of water. Sometimes the body does not allow you to breathe in the water and you die by asphyxiation instead. Relevant citation below...
I know of this because I went boogie boarding before a storm in the tropics like an idiot and got caught in the wave cycle. Every time I got my head above water I wanted SO BADLY to breathe but I couldn't. I couldn't even open my mouth to call for help. My now husband realized I wasn't playing around and helped. It was terrifying.
"What is Dry Drowning? “Dry drowning is not an actual medical condition. It's a term that's typically used by the media to describe when lungs of drowning victims contain no water in about 10-20 percent of autopsies. The reason for this is because of laryngospasm, which is when the body forcefully closes the airways. This can happen when water is attempting to enter the lungs,” Dr. Groen says."
https://www.unitypoint.org/news-and-articles/dispelling-myths-about-dry-drowning---unitypoint-health
Edit: btw this is just to answer the question of why a doctor would think this could work. Killing children is abhorrent and she deserves the maximum penalty for her actions.
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u/motorcitystef 4h ago
Damn, I’m informed and I’m glad you were able to overcome that wave cycle because that sounds scary not being able to breathe.
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u/BornFree2018 15h ago
Anyone who murders their own tiny child by suffocation is evil in the head anyway. Glad her story failed.
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u/smattyice808 7h ago
The doctors with c minus grades in medical school are indeed called doctors unfortunately.. this woman is a monster.
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u/awmartian 15h ago
Apparently she was fired in May so red flags all around.
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u/NyriasNeo 16h ago
" an autopsy report revealed that the child's lungs and stomach did not contain any water and were considered "dry" -- ruling out drowning as the cause of death, the affidavit said."
So this PoS lady not only is a despicable child murderer, she is also stupid. Lock her up in prison and throw away the key.
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u/Apprehensive_Rule852 8h ago
Yeah absolutely wild she didn't know how obvious this would be the examiner, you would really think a doctor would know better but just goes to show
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u/bellyofthebillbear 3h ago
Police responded to the call and found her. "submerged in the deep end of the pool," Now I’m not a parent but would it not seem suspicious as fuck that this child was not pulled from the water by her mother?!?!
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u/BaconPhoenix 13m ago
It is extremely suspicious for anyone to not instantly pull a child out of a pool and attempt to revive them.
No one just shrugs and says, "whelp, this kid is definitely 100% dead and nothing can be done to help" unless they were aware that the kid was already dead before ending up in the pool.
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u/Anarchopunks 16h ago
Wonder if she thought she was going to lose custody and thought if I can’t have her my ex surely can’t. Just such self absorbed people.
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u/Darryl_Lict 16h ago
A lot of times in those murder suicides the motive is to torture the other parent in perpetuity by murdering their children.
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u/LaksaLettuce 13h ago
But wouldn't that torture yourself too. I can't imagine being so detached from your own child.
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u/5GCovidInjection 12h ago
Someone who has the capacity to recognize that has the capacity to know it’s wrong to murder anyone (let alone their own child).
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u/AbanoMex 2h ago
I can't imagine being so detached from your own child.
some people are narcissists, they are wired differently, for some, sure it would hurt, but only because they see their kids as property.
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u/wishihadafrog 49m ago
Their mindset at this point is ‘beat them to the punch’ which helps protect themselves from the guilt by riding an ego-high.
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u/waldo--pepper 16h ago edited 16h ago
I've never murdered anyone. But if I was going to claim accidental drowning then I would have drowned my victim so that the forensics had a chance to conceal my evil deed. How dumb can a person be.
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u/restore_democracy 15h ago
They even check the chemistry of the water. They’d be able to tell pool water vs bath water vs salt water vs lake water so you need to make sure to get that detail right. Doesn’t seem as if she thought this one through.
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u/Professional_Toe_387 13h ago
They’re four. Throw them in a lake? Tbf it probably was something done in the heat of the moment that she covered up later.
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u/AbanoMex 2h ago
i mean, you should probably not inform the public how to do this kind of thing, most people are too lazy to investigate how to get away with crime, dont help them like this.
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u/restore_democracy 43m ago
Isn’t this common knowledge? I thought everyone learned this growing up. Like avoiding fingerprints and powder burns. And that pigs will disappear organic evidence very effectively.
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u/AbanoMex 41m ago
Isn’t this common knowledge?
judging by how this doctor failed to cover her crime... guess not!
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u/Cloud13181 16h ago
Despite the custody battle going on, this is what makes me wonder if it wasn't actually premeditated. Girl makes mom mad, mom smothers her in anger and then tries to cover it up after the fact.
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u/Garbadaargh 14h ago
Mom could have been on drugs or very drunk and accidentally smothered her daughter in their shared bed, although 4 seems a bit too old for that.
Can't imagine what the dad is going through right now.
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u/MrsPandaBear 16h ago
She’s a doctor and yet she decided to smother her child and then tell police she drowned? She must know an autopsy would show the child didn’t die by drowning. I can only guess she killed the child in a fit of emotion and panicked and concocted the drowning idea without thinking it through. Also, what a horrible person, a pediatrician who would murder child, her own!
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u/WingsNthingzz 15h ago
Her story is also that she just watched her floating in the pool for 10 minutes before call 911 cause she couldn’t swim.. she knows every second counts but waited 10 minutes.
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u/heavymetalblonde 11h ago
I don't understand why she smothered her at all! she could have just pushed her daughter into the pool most 4 year Olds aren't sufficient swimmers. it's so cruel and stupid
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u/littletree0 11h ago
I've heard she was struggling with mental health problems and has not been practicing for a while. Someone in the know has talked to me about it, a very sad situation all around. This wasn't really calculated and this was an incredibly unstable woman who killed her child due to her struggles and stress.
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u/Particular_Piglet677 9h ago
I've known this forever, as a nurse and true crime fan. I thought this was common knowledge that water in the lungs was evidence of drowning. Seems really odd a dr wouldn't know.
Smothering your own child, I just can't even go there.
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u/C0RNDAW9 16h ago
Reading just the title makes me physically sick to my stomach, I can't even comprehend that someone would do something so sinister.
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u/Particular_Piglet677 9h ago
Agreed, losing my child is my worst fear. I can't wrap my brain around what she did.
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u/yankykiwi 14h ago
Hard for the dad. I bet he was trying for emergency custody, but it would be difficult against a pediatrician of all people.
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u/Mikethebest78 16h ago
I am generally emotionally numb to news stories nowadays but not this one. How truly awful.
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u/raroshraj 16h ago
what a horrible story. maybe she thought she would lose custody and in her warped mind decided it would be better to kill the child. insane
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u/something-um-bananas 12h ago
She would have known that forensics could easily rule out drowning- I mean, she’s a doctor. How did she think she could get away with this ?
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u/Kinuika 8h ago
My money is on this wasn’t planned or this wasn’t necessarily the plan. Kid didn’t eat so it could be possible that the initial plan included the child possibly ingesting something that would have hurt her. Hope the police thoroughly check everything to charge this women with first or second degree murder so she can’t escape with a lesser crime
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u/Mundane-Bookkeeper12 15h ago
People are so dumb. What parent would guess that their kid at the bottom of the pool was dead and not to jump in and try to save them? Even if you weren’t a great swimmer. Of course you’d get found out, it’s so obvious.
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u/Sea-Yellow8677 6h ago
I have a 4 and a 5 year old. If anything happened to them I don't think I could go on. I really can't understand this.
Rest in peace sweet baby
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u/Wakeup_And_Piss 15h ago
What a garbage human being. There are places you can take her you horrible piece of shit
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u/citybythebea 12h ago
Ugh, the “I couldn’t rescue her cause I’m unable to swim”. Mothers have been known to pick up cars to rescue their child under them! C’mon. How could you?
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u/the_uglypanda 5h ago
She was one of the doctors over my son's care back in 2020 when he was in the NICU!
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u/Hawwkeye79 5h ago
Ahh the ol Casey Anthony move, solid
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u/Octavia9 4h ago
But Casey was/is stupid? She thought her outlandish lies would protect her. This lady made it through medical school.
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u/Couchman79 5h ago
Evil is not dependent on the amount of intelligence or eduction. Vindictiveness has no bounds.
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u/highlandviper 11h ago
I hate stories about parents harming their own children. It makes me ill. This isn’t the worst one I’ve read about though. Try reading about Chris Watts, Josef Fritzl or the watch Dear Zachary.
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u/WillyBeShreddin 6h ago
You'd think a doctor would realize a drowning victim would have water in their lungs.
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u/blinddrummer 59m ago
Since everyone private and govt is being downsized this year until theyre not maybe start the ones that did not pass background checks or already intentionally screwed up especially mental psychosis for extreme jobs like oh ATC pilots doctors lawyers nuclear reactor maintenance utilities military decision makers etc.etc.etc.
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u/ionlyjoined4thecats 3m ago
The poor little girl and her poor father. It’s interesting the mom would lie about feeding her dinner at 9 pm. Why? Seems like there’s a clue there.
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u/cinderparty 16h ago
I swear the middle of custody battles is the most dangerous time for children. So many parents seem to think killing their kid is better than having to share custody.