Garnett Spears

“Throughout his short life, Garnett Spears was forced to suffer through repeated hospitalizations, unneeded surgical procedures and ultimately poisoning with salt, all at the hands of the one person who should have been his ultimate protector: his mother. Using the child’s ‘illnesses’ to self-aggrandize herself, Lacey Spears’ actions directly lead to her son’s tortured death.”

- Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore

It was the 17th of January 2014. A Friday. Twenty seven year old Lacey Spears lived with her five year old son, Garnett Spears, in the Fellowship, New York, United States. She had lived there since 2012. Lacey's hometown was Decatur in Alabama but she moved to New York as she thought she could find a better school for Garnett. The Fellowship was ideal for her. The Fellowship is an alternative community located just an hour outside of New York City.

 

The purpose of the community is to care for elderly residents. People like Lacey can live there with free room and board and schooling for children in exchange for providing care to the elderly residents. Lacey loved living there with Garnett. He was free to run around in the safety of the community and she enjoyed looking after others. Before she moved there, she worked as a day carer. Lacey also ran a Blog, called “Garnett the Great.” She started it just after Garnett was born to document and blog about his journey as he had to have a feeding tube inserted. 

Lacey told people at the Fellowship that things had not always been easy for her. She became pregnant with Garnett in 2008 when she was just twenty years old. She told them that sadly, Garnett's father Blake, a police officer, died in a car crash.  When Garnett was born, he was constantly sick and she was in and out of hospitals with him and had multiple visits to different doctors. She had received support in Alabama and Florida from her friends and family and started blogging about Garnett's journey and people online were incredibly supportive. When Lacey moved to New York, things were looking a lot better for the mother and son.

 

That all changed on the 17th of January 2014.Garnett was admitted to New York’s Nyack Hospital. He had fever, pains in his stomach and headaches and was suffering from seizure like symptoms. The hospital set up a video EEG using a special cap on his head, wired to a machine to monitor his brain activity. He began to improve that night and the following night but two days after he was first admitted, his condition worsened. Garnett was in a lot of pain. Tests carried out by the hospital revealed that Garnett’s sodium level was 182. When he was admitted, it was 138. The Doctors couldn't understand how or why it was so high. A sodium level of 182 could lead to death. The hospital transferred him to a specialized children’s hospital at Westchester Medical Center as his condition was so serious.

At that time, when Garnett was a baby, Doctors brought his sodium levels down but did not find an explanation as to how it happened in the first place. When Garnett was just nine months old, he was still sick and could not keep food down so a feeding tube was inserted. The feeding tube, known as a G tube, allows nutrients to go directly into the abdomen. This takes place either via a hanging bag, a bottle or through a syringe. 

 

In 2013, a Doctor was perplexed as to why the G tube was still in. At that point, Garnett was a happy and healthy boy and had a good appetite. But Lacey did not want to have it removed. 

 

Police received the test results from the two feeding bags they had tested that were found at Lacey's house. Tests revealed that sodium was found in the two feeding bags. Each bag had the equivalent of at least 69 small salt packs. Lacey was arrested and indicted by a grand jury on one count of murder in the second degree (depraved indifference murder of a child), and one count of manslaughter in the first degree.

 

The Westchester County medical examiner ruled Garnett's death a homicide. There was a toxic level of sodium in his body. 

It was the Prosecution's case that Lacey poisoned Garnett by giving him salt through his G tube. They believe she did this at home and when he was in the hospital.

 

Garnett Spears

The Prosecution told the Jury that when Garnett was admitted to the hospital ,a video electroencephalogram was set up to rule out a seizure disorder. A video camera was placed facing his hospital bed to record any physical symptoms of seizures that he may exhibit. That footage was shown to the Court as evidence.

On the 19th of January, the footage revealed that Lacey took Garnett into the bathroom at the hospital. She brought a white cup and what appeared to be an attachment that connected to Garnett's G tube into the bathroom with her. Shortly after Garnett left the bathroom, he became violently ill. Garnett was suffering from diarrhea and had severe headaches. He was also dry heaving. The Prosecution claimed that when they were in the bathroom, Lacey put salt in Garnett's G tube. 

When Garnett improved, Lacey again brought him to the bathroom with a white cup and what appeared to be the attachment to his G tube. It was the Prosecution's case that Lacey put salt in his G tube during that visit to the bathroom also. 

Garnett was violently ill shortly afterwards for a second time and it looked like he was having a seizure but the EEG did not show seizure activity. It showed a significant slowing in the brain waves. This suggested a severe brain dysfunction.

Doctors carried out various tests and a blood test revealed he had high sodium levels. It was then that they decided to transfer him to a more specialized hospital as at that point, Garnett was in a critical condition. He could not breathe on his own. 

He was diagnosed with hypernatremia (an elevated sodium level) of unknown etiology. Just two days later it was determined that he was brain dead and he would not survive. As a result, his life support machine was switched off. 

Lacey did not testify or speak at her Trial. 

One month after Lacey Spear’s trial began, a verdict was reached. She was found guilty of depraved indifference murder of a child.

Lacey had a history of lying. She faked her own illnesses throughout her life and tried to pretend other children were her own. She even lied about Garnett's father. His father was not a police officer called Blake who died in a car crash. He was a former friend. They used to live in the same apartment block and his name was Chris Hill and he was still very much alive.  According to Chris, he wanted to be in Garnett's life but Lacey refused to give him access and moved to New York. She loved drama and attention and the sympathy that she received from others.