Police: Mom Tried To Kill Kids, Commit Suicide
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Hoffman Estates woman has been charged with trying to kill her two children, before apparently attempting suicide on Tuesday.
Police said officers responding to a well-being check Tuesday afternoon at an apartment in the 1000 block of Atlantic Avenue found the door blocked, but were able to get inside, where they found 38-year-old Tracy Johnson lying on the floor.
The officers smelled natural gas in the home, and called the Hoffman Estates Fire Department, according to police.
Investigators said they found the 2-year-old boy stumbling and incoherent and his 5-year-old sister unconscious.
Johnson and her children were taken to St. Alexius Medical Center.
Prosecutors said Johnson wanted to kill herself because she was angry with her ex, but she did not want her children to go to their father. So, she allegedly crushed drugs into the children's smoothies and tied bags on their heads with rope.
"She said her mommy told her that she was going to put a plastic bag over her head," said Maria McCarthy Assistant State's Attorney. "The 5-year old also said that one night mommy put a pillow over her and her brother's head and squeezed tight because she was angry and said her brother's father was not nice."
Police said investigators determined Johnson tried to kill her children "by asphyxiation" and then tried to kill herself. She has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.
Johnson is now being held on a $2-million bond.
