Mentally Ill Mom Indicted For Baby Murder
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A Lake View woman undergoing psychiatric care for post-partum illness was formally charged Wednesday with suffocating her 8-month-old son earlier this year.
While her husband went to play tennis on Feb. 7, Janet Thies-Keogh killed their son, Colin, in the couple's home, Cook County prosecutors said.
Colin's autopsy initially indicated further studies were necessary, but on April 13, a doctor with the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled the death a homicide by suffocation.
Thies-Keogh was charged April 14 and on Tuesday was indicted on a first-degree murder charge, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin said. She'll appear for arraignment June 2, he said.
She has been held on $500,000 bond since April 14.
Thies-Keogh, 30, allegedly told her husband she was "not good" and asked him to come home when he called to check up on her the night Colin died. She repeatedly told him, "It's too late," Asst. State's Atty. Jamie Santini said.
As the husband rushed home, he called 911 and told a dispatcher he believed his wife may have done something to herself or their child, Santini said.
He then called his wife back and was on the phone with her for about four minutes, according to phone records. After that second call, the husband called 911 again and said his wife indicated she had "suffocated and killed" the baby, a police report said.
Officers found Colin on the bed in the master bedroom of the home in the 3900 block of North Ashland, Santini said. He was not breathing and was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at Thorek Memorial Hospital.
Thies-Keogh's attorney Thomas Brandstrader said his client suffers from a post partum-related illness. Just a month before Colin's death, she stopped working at a beer distribution company, he said.
Thies-Keogh has been under psychiatric care since the incident and received in-patient treatment for more than a month, Brandstrader said. Currently, she goes to outpatient therapy four days a week.
The police report described Thies-Keogh as "suicidal and being treated for depression."
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