Murder of Garnett Spears

The murder of Garnett Spears occurred on January 23, 2014 at a hospital in suburban Valhalla, New York. The cause of death was deemed to be high levels of sodium leading to swelling in his brain. After his death, Garnett's mother, Lacey Spears, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter of her five-year-old son. Originally born and raised in Decatur, Alabama, Spears moved with her son to the town of Chestnut Ridge, New York, 14 months prior to Garnett's death. During her son's short life, Lacey Spears documented what she said was her son's struggle with numerous illnesses on her blog and on Facebook. On March 2, 2015, a jury found Spears guilty of killing her son by poisoning him with table salt, which she had administered to him from infancy through his feeding tube. On April 8, 2015, a judge sentenced Spears to 20 years to life in prison for the death of her son. The judge in the case, Robert Neary, said that Lacey Spears suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and therefore did not sentence her to 25 years in prison, the maximum possible sentence.