The sad case of Lacey and Garnett Spears part 2

0:02 Hello everybody and welcome back to Unthinkable, a True Crime Podcast. I'm Lisa. Thank you for joining me. I hope you are all well. So today's episode is the concluding part of Little Garnet Spears' story. So part one was my last episode. So if you haven't listened to that, then do go back and listen to it. And that will bring you up to date with where we are now. So the last episode we talked about Garnet starting school and how much he loved it. And we ended with him being airlifted to the intensive care unit at the Maria Ferreri Children's Hospital.

0:37 So we are going to talk about the events leading up to that point. So, right, let's get started. In December 2013, Garnet School breaks for the Christmas holidays. Lacey and Garnet travel to Florida to spend Christmas with Penny and her family. And Garnet has a wonderful time. He's happy to be back with his great-grandmother. Lacey helps decorate the tree and she puts purple owls sort of dotted around the house. So Lacey told Garnet that when his daddy died, she told him that he was reincarnated as an owl.

1:15 So she buys loads of owls and she puts them around everywhere. And it's to let Garnet know that his daddy is always with him, which is really lovely, isn't it? Until we remember that Garnet's daddy isn't really dead, that his dad is alive and well. And sadly, Garnet he never gets to meet his dad. Now on the 27th of December, Lacey starts to send alarming emails to Nellie and to Garnet's school teacher, Carol Greeder. Lacey writes that Garnet is seriously ill and that he's been taken to the pediatric intensive care unit.

1:53 Lacey tells them that Garnet is suffering with seizures, vomiting, and he has a fever of 104. She said that Garnet had to have his port accessed for fluids. Now Carol Greeder, she's a registered nurse, and she knows that although Garnet's got a feeding tube in his stomach, he hasn't got a port on his chest. So an intravenous device port, often called a implanted venous access device, is a small medical appliance that's placed under the skin and it connects to like a thin tube that goes into the large vein, making it easier to give medicine and it's placed on your chest.

2:34 So Carol knows Garnet doesn't have one, but she doesn't question it though. A few days later, Nellie and Carol receive another email. This one claims that Garnet has got an intestinal virus. He's vomiting, and remember he can't vomit because he had that operation at nine weeks old, didn't he? She also says that he's been diagnosed with Crohn's disease and a milk allergy and that his fever has now spiked to 105. Now you won't be surprised to know that none of this is true. Garnet never went to the hospital when he was in Florida.

3:12 He was fine. None of this happened. Rebecca, Lacey's sister, said although Garnet's ears were bothering him, he was fine. They said they went to the beach, they dined at French's, which is one of their favourite places to eat. She said they went out to see the Christmas lights at night. And on the 29th of December, Lacey and Garnet flew back to New York. On Tuesday, the 7th of January 2014, school starts, and Carol Greeder, Garnet's teacher, is so thrilled to see Garnet at school and he's fit and well and healthy.

3:47 She said he was his normally bubbly self. He was eating well, he was really happy to be back. And I don't know if Carol asked Garnet about his hospital visit. I feel like they would have asked the children how their Christmas was and did they enjoy the holidays, but I don't know if they would ask about the hospital. I don't I don't know. Um I couldn't find anything on that anyway. Um, right, so now on Friday, the 10th of January, Lacey keeps Garnet home from school. She tells Carol that Garnet's had a high fever and is suffering with a stomach flu.

4:21 Now, sadly, Garnet will never return to school again after this. Investigators later state that they think it's around this time that Lacey starts to put her plan in motion. Garnet's getting older, he's chatty, Lacey can no longer fully control him, and she's worried that Garnet might start talking about what's been going on at home, about what she's been doing to him. On Sunday night, Lacey emails Carol saying Garnet is still not well and that she's taking him to the doctors in the morning and she will get him checked.

4:56 She said she wanted to get his sodium levels checked. She says one, his sodium levels are high, he has seizures. Lacey took Garnet to see pediatrician the next morning, saying Garnet had been running a high temperature of 105 and that he'd been suffering with stomach flu. Now the pediatrician takes Garnet's temperature and it was 98.6, which is normal. He did a thorough examination on Garnet and he said that there was nothing wrong with him. He's fit and healthy. On Tuesday, the 14th of January 2014, Lacey takes Garnet to the Good Samaritan Hospital.

5:36 Whilst they are waiting to be seen, Lacey takes some photos of Garnet waiting in the emergency room. Dr. Angela Ellerman came to see Garnet and asked what was wrong, and Lacey tells the doctor that Garnet has had two seizures. She says that he's had seizures in the past due to high sodium levels. Now, Dr. Ellerman, she does a full examination on Garnet and she concluded that there's nothing wrong with him. Everything is fine. She asked Garnet himself what's wrong, and Garnet appeared very shy and he didn't want to answer.

6:12 And we know Garnet to be this bubbly, chatty little boy, don't we? So Garnet he appeared perfectly healthy. But because Lacey mentions seizures, the doctor decides to do a CAT scan and some blood work just to be safe. And when the results come back, everything looks good. Garnet needs no further treatment and is discharged. When Lacey arrives home, she starts texting people how the Good Samaritan Hospital aren't taking Garnet's seizures seriously. And she says he's had two more seizures since they've got home.

6:48 She posts on Facebook asking people to pray for her baby. She then messages a friend saying that Garnet's had six seizures and that she's taking him to the Nyack Hospital for treatment. The pediatrician at Nyack Hospital examines Garnet and again he found there was nothing wrong. But because of the stories Lacey's telling, the pediatrician thinks it will be best for Garnet to see a pediatric neurologist, just to be sure. So he puts in a referral and Lacey and Garnet went home. Lacey and Garnet arrived back at Nyack Hospital the next day at 3 p.m. They are directed to the waiting room.

7:31 Lacey takes out her phone and messages friends saying Garnet had a seizure that lasted five minutes. She's scared he'll die and that his hands are shaking. Triage nurse Janelle Kimler, she approaches Lacey and Garnet and she notices that Garnet's hands are trembling. She said he looked nervous and that he didn't speak to her. His mum told her that he had three seizures. Lacey told Janelle about Garnet's medical history and how he was allergic to milk. She said he had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease and now celiac disease and that he's had multiple surgeries.

8:09 She even states, adding in a new surgery, that Garnet hasn't had, and there's no medical records anywhere. Why is this not being checked? Now the doctor that examines Garnet finds that he's perfectly healthy and there's absolutely no signs of seizures. But he did decide to admit uh to admit Garnet for observations, and Lacey is straight on her phone, isn't she? She's posting on Facebook and messaging friends that Garnet's being admitted to hospital along with lots of photos. The doctor that admits Garnet, Dr. McSherry, he discusses Garnet's case with neurologist Ariel Sherbony, and it's decided that they perform an E E G to see if Garnet is having seizures.

8:56 Now, an E G is shortened from a word that I can't say. It's spelt E L E C T R O E N C E P H A L O G R A M. I can't say that. So if you can say it, please let me know. So an E G it's a painless test that records your brain's electrical activity using small metal discs that are placed on your scalp. So this is decided, and they also decide to put a video recorder on Garnet so they can monitor him throughout the night. Now Dr. McSherry, he actually confides in a doctor, a doctor called Dr. Sunker, but he believes that Lacey is suffering with munchisum by proxy.

9:52 So they've got the video recorder set up in Garnet's room and it's pointing towards the bed, so you can mainly see the bed, but you can see a little bit either side as well, but not much else. Now on the Saturday morning, nurse Nora comes into Garnet's room to introduce herself. She was assigned for Garnet's primary nurse. She said Garnet was in good spirits, he was awake and chatty and appeared healthy. Then the nurse Jessica Shields stopped by to check on Garnet. She checks all his vital signs, and she said that Garnet said to her, When I grow up I want to be a daddy.

10:30 He's just so sweet, isn't he? And his mother is sat there when he says this. Like he's talking about growing up and she still goes on to do what she does. Like she's just awful. Now Nellie Grussenbecker, who is Lacey's friend from school with the twin boys, she comes to see Garnet. She says he's well and he was happy colouring in in a picture book. She said that when she left, she felt delighted that Garnet was doing so well, and she remembered thinking to herself, he'll be coming home within the next few days.

11:03 So Dr. Sherbany comes to check on Garnet and Lacey tells him that she has nursing experience. And the doctor's almost alarmed by this because he's thinking, okay, so if Lacey has nursing experience, then she would know what seizure looks like, which made the doctor worry because they're seeing no evidence of seizures. So he's like, Are we missing something? But then Lacey, she also says that um once Garnet had a sodium level of 200, now which is impossible. That level is not compatible with life.

11:35 Like he would die. So that's then showing that she doesn't have nursing experience. So it's like it's another lie, isn't it? But it's not questioned. So the doctor performs a full neurological exam on Garnet and he's absolutely fine. Garnet had a good night. The nurses came to check on him, and he was happy, chatting, being his normal little self. Now, around 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, Lacey starts Googling iodized salt. What is iodized salt and why would you buy iodized salt? She then Googles information about brain tumours and the central nervous system.

12:16 Now nurses are happy with Garnet's EEG results, and they say that if Garnet's MRI scans come back saying there's no abnormalities, then Garnet could go home. They say he's not having seizures and he won't have seizures. So this is good news, isn't it? But the nurse later states that Lacey didn't really react. She just had like a blank expression on her face. Like you think she'd be overjoyed, like she can take him home. But she's just got like a deadpan stare. Now at 1025 a.m., the video recorder in Garnet's room records Garnet laying quite happily on the bed.

12:54 He's kicking his legs around and he's smiling. And then we see Lacey. She comes and picks him up and she carries him into the bathroom. Now when she picks him up, he puts his legs around her. You know how children do when you pick them up, they kind of cuddle into you. It's very sweet, bless him. So she takes him into the bathroom. Then moments later, she comes back out. She walks out of camera shop, but then when she returns to the bathroom, she walks past the camera, and we can see she's holding a cup and the feeding connector tube.

13:27 They're in the bathroom for three minutes, and when Lacey and Garnet reappear, Garnet appears very lethargic and confused. Lacey puts him on the bed and he's laying completely still.

13:41 She actually picks up the emergency call button and puts it on the bed, like almost ready to press it. All of a sudden, Garnet falls forward and he begins retching, trying to throw up the high level of salt that she's just injected into his stomach. But of course, he can't throw up because of the operation. Now Garnet is rolling around on the bed, he's in agony, he's clutching his head, he's repeatingly dry heaving. At 10.35, Lacey presses the emergency button. The nurses arrive and they are horrified by the state of Garnet.

14:17 They give him medicine to help stop the nausea and some pain medication for his headache. His whole body is just wants the poison out and he can't be sick, so the nurses know he has to have a bowel movement. And then Garnet starts having explosive diarrhea. The nurses help clean him up and change the sheets. And around midday, Garnet's whole body starts trembling. The doctors take his blood to test, and Lacey, well, she starts taking photos and she puts them on Facebook. Now, around 2 30, Garnet's condition has improved, and his blood test came back.

14:56 Well, they were okay. So his sodium level was 144, so that's within the normal range. His chloride levels were slightly high at 114. Lacey asked the nurse about Garnet's sodium levels, and the nurse told her that they are fine. And Lacey, again, she doesn't really react. She almost is disappointed. The nurses they check on him throughout the day, and Garnet is looking more and more like himself, and they notice he's drinking a lot of water. Um, so the salt has obviously made him thirsty. Um, but then at 4:19 pm in the afternoon, the EEG camera catches Lacey taking Garnet back to the bathroom with the cup and the connector tube in her hands.

15:45 When they return a few minutes later, Lacey puts Garnet on the bed and he kind of slumps down like she sort of she stands him on the bed and he kind of falls down and then he sort of goes to the corner and he lays completely still. And again, Lacey's just watching him. And what I think's happened here is she fed the first lot of salt into his system, and she was hoping that that would raise his sodium levels, but when his levels came back normal, she's now given him a large dose of salt. She's just awful, isn't she?

16:22 So Lacey gets on the bed with him and she watches him, and at 4 30, Lacey presses the emergency button, and the nurses rush in again to see Garnet trying to vomit. He's holding his head, and when they administer the anti nause nausea meds through his IV, the nurse notices that his feeding tube is open in his stomach, and she says to Lacey, Oh my gosh, his feeding tube is open. And Lacey just says, Okay, and closes it. But the nurse doesn't question it. Now, this time Garnet's condition is now it's starting to deteriorate rapidly, and at 5 30 pm, the nurses here screaming coming from Garnet's room.

17:07 When Nurse Nora arrives, Lacey is screaming, look at him, look at him, and Garnet was having a full-blown seizure. Nurse Nora called for a code white, which means uh a pediatric medical emergency. Garnet is given Atavan, which is a strong anti-seizure medication, but it didn't work. So they gave him a second dose, which it stopped momentarily, but then the seizure started back up again. He was given two more doses, and the seizure stopped for a few minutes and then it started again. So they gave him a stronger anti-seizure medication, but this is when Garnet's oxygen levels start to drop, and he actually has to be put on life support.

17:52 They check Garnet's sodium levels again, and this time they've gone up to 182, which that is medically impossible to jump from a 144 to 182. Now when Lacey is told that Garnet's sodium levels have jumped from 144 to 182, she calmly replied, I've been expecting this, and the nurse said that she actually had a smile on her face. Now there is no medical reason sodium levels would jump that high. It's only possible with salt poisoning. Lacey is told that Garnet is going to be airlifted to Westchester Medical Centre.

18:34 Lacey immediately starts texting friends, making phone calls, she calls her parents who say they are going to make their 900-mile journey to the hospital, and she posts it all on Facebook. When the helicopter arrives at Westchester Hospital, Garnet is wheeled in on a stretcher. And doctors, they stop Lacey from going into Garnet's room. Instead, he takes her into his office to find out the events leading up to Garnet ending up so gravely ill on life support. Now Lacey says that Garnet has been doing well until this morning and he started getting a terrible headache and dry heaving.

19:12 She said that it had been happening throughout the day, and then he started having seizures. After an examination of Garnet, after a full examination of Garnet, Dr. Goldman concludes that Garnet is suffering from hyperneutremia, a abnormally high sodium level in the blood. And this is severe and can lead to death as a result of the brain swelling against the skull. Now, Dr. Goldman he plans to safely lower Garnet's sodium levels slowly over 48 hours, so he'll be given a safe level of fluids through an IV drit.

19:49 In severe cases of this condition, patients cannot drink as it could make the sodium levels drop too fast, which can cause fatal brain swelling. So Dr. Goldman he issues an NPO order, which means nothing by mouth. Dr. Goldman told Lacey directly not to give her son anything to drink as it could kill him. Now Garnet's sodium levels, although slowly they are coming down. Doctors reduce the sedatives and Garnet starts to wake up. And although he's still very groggy, Garnet was okay. He was nodding his head when he was being asked questions and he was breathing on his own.

20:30 Doctors say to Lacey that they will remove his breathing tube because he's breathing on his own. And Lacey tries to stop them. But they remove it anyway. And as the day wore on, Garnet was becoming more alert and he started speaking, and he kept saying that he wanted to go home. So it appears that Garner is out of danger. His sodium levels, although they're still high, they are coming down. But he still has the NPO order in place as the IV continues, you know, to help to safely bring the levels down.

21:05 Garner is asking for water, but the doctors explain that they can't give him any water and it's just too dangerous. And they tell Lacey again, do not give him anything to drink. Now Garner is doing well, the doctors are pleased with his progress. And they look in on him throughout the night and he's sleeping peacefully. And this is wonderful news. However, Lacey is posting a very different story on Facebook. She posts comments like Garner is having a really rough night, we aren't getting any sleep, and then she puts, Please pray for my baby boy.

21:41 She says that he's in a lot of pain and that he can't hold his head up. But he's stable, you know, he's getting better, but on the morning of the 21st of January 2014, Dr. Goldsman is having a meeting in his office when the alarm sounded sounded from Garnet's room. Now Dr. Goldsman ran down the corridor and burst through the door, and he finds Lacey, she's leaning over Garnet, and Garnet has stopped breathing, and then he sees under the bed that there's an empty water bottle. Lacey had given him water.

22:18 She was told not to give him anything to drink as it will cause irreversible brain damage, but she gave him water. At Dr. Goldsman, he told the nurse who came in the room with him to get the bottle, to take the bottle out of the room, and then he ordered Lacey out. The doctor examined Garnet, both his pupils were blown and he was not responding to light. They had to put him back on life support and they ordered a brain CAT scan and new blood work. Whilst the doctors and nurses were trying to help Garnet, Lacey's taking photos and putting them all over Facebook.

22:56 So Lacey's friend Nellie, she arrives at the hospital and Lacey's parents arrive shortly after. Nellie said that Lacey appeared more concerned that she was under suspicion than what she was about Garnet. And she tells Nellie not to tell her mum that she is under suspicion, and she didn't really want anyone to talk to her mum. Lacey has a strained relationship with her mum and Lacey's mum doesn't attend the trial. That's interesting, isn't it? Now Garnet's brain scans reveal that sadly Garnet is completely brain dead.

23:33 So she killed him. Nellie asked the doctors if anything could be done, but they couldn't do anything. The only thing that was keeping Garnet alive now was the life support. Lacey she ran out of the room screaming. She started throwing herself around on the floor. She spent the next hour and a half laying on the floor in the hallway, and no one goes to her. They all stay in the room with Garnet. It's actually Lacey's mother who eventually goes to her and basically tells her to pull herself together and tells her that this isn't about you, it's about your son.

24:13 Around midday, the EEG showed no activity in Garnet's brain. Before they can confirm Garnet's Brain Dead officially, they need to follow the Brain Dead Protocol. They need to perform two separate brain dead examinations by two different doctors 24 hours apart. Now, Dr. Goldsman calls a meeting with Jennifer Kenta, who is the director of the Pediatric Child Abuse Program, and he tells her about Garnet's case. He tells her about the suspicions around his mother. Child protective services are called, and so are the police.

24:52 Dr. Goldsman takes Lacey into a conference room and tells her that he's called Child Protected Services to the hospital as he suspects that what happened to Garnet was not an accident. At 2.50, detective Dan Carthy arrives at the hospital to investigate the case. Police executed a search warrant for Lacey and Garnett's apartment, and they say they are looking for salt. They find feeding bags in Lacey's apartment containing large amounts of salt. They find what looks like a small shrine to Garnet.

25:28 It's got photos of him and it's got candles and there's a large tub of salt. Now Lacey is interviewed at the hospital and she starts telling detectives about Garnet's father, Blake, that he was a police officer and that he died in a car accident. And then she starts telling them at length about Garnet's medical history. Like she knows she's still lying. Like, does she not know that they're gonna check this and find it's all nonsense? Detectives later said that they were struck by Lacey's lack of emotion.

26:02 Unbelievably, Lacey was still posting pictures on Facebook. She was posting pictures of her brain dead son. She posted, Tonight I sit at the bedside of my wonderful, beautiful, one-of-a-kind son Garnet the Graham. Knowing his soul is already with the angels, there are no words to describe this is just a horrible nightmare. Please pray that Garnet's journey into his next life is nothing short of amazing. Now she's flooded with responses and friends even set up a GoFundMe page. Now Lacey then updates her Facebook friends that she will make the decision tomorrow to turn off Garnet's life support machine.

26:44 There was a candlelit visual online, and Lacey was flooded with messages of love and support. Lacey then phones a friend, Valerie Boucher, and she asks her to go to her apartment and remove a feeding bag that's hooked up to Garnet's feeding machine, and she says, Can you dispose of it and not tell anyone? And Valerie, she actually does. She goes to Lacey's apartment, she finds the feeding bag, and she does get rid of it, but she keeps it, so she keeps it with her, she's got it in her house. But she later tells the leader of the fellow of the fellowship.

27:22 So remember, Lacey and Garnet are living in the alternate lifestyle community called the Fellowship. So Valerie tells the leaders and they call the police, and the police come and took the bag, and they also took another bag from Lacey's apartment and they sent them away for testing. At 10:20 a.m. Lacey posted on Facebook, Garnet the Great journeyed onwards today at 10.20 a.m. She posted some more pictures of him and she posted candles, like pictures of candles, and Garnet's life support machine was turned off.

28:02 Now there's a huge investigation. Lacey's computer is seized. Investigators look into her search history and her Facebook posts, and her search history shows numerous occasions Lacey has been researching salt poisoning, high sodium levels in children, and they see that she's made large purchases of salt. Now Lacey gets a lawyer and she starts deleting things from her phone. Now Lacey she actually goes back to Kentucky to be with her family. I don't know why she's allowed to leave while she's been investigated, but nevertheless she does.

28:38 But I suppose she hasn't formally been charged yet. So yeah, they've they've let her, you know, go off to Kentucky. Now, after Garnet's death, there's an autopsy performed. And when the internal exam was performed, they found there was absolutely nothing wrong with Garnet's organs. He did not have Crohn's disease and he was not celiac. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him, nothing at all. So now we jump to June the 14th, 2014. Lacey's lawyer called her and said that an arrest is inminent and that it would be in Lacey's best interest to be close by.

29:19 So Lacey and her father they fly to New York from Kentucky and check into a hotel. Lacey was arrested on the 17th of June 2014, and she was charged with second degree murder and first degree murder. Lacey pleads not guilty. The trial began on the 3rd of February 2015. Lacey is led to court for the first day of trial, and this is a big trial. They go through Lacey's Facebook post, the lies about Garnet's father, the lies about Garnet's health, and they play the EEG video of Garnet being taken to the bathroom and how his condition deteriorates so fast.

30:03 They see the feeding tube in her hand and the cup. They talk about the feeding bags with the high levels of salt present. Now the defense, well, they say there's actually no eyewitnesses that saw Lacey put salt into Garnet's feeding tube, but that's a weak defense, isn't it? And they even tried to say that it was the hospital's fault, that it was hospital error that caused Garnett's death. On the 2nd of March 2015, Lacey Spears is found guilty of second-degree murder of her son Garnet Spears. She was sentenced on the 8th of April 2015 to 20 years in prison.

30:43 Lacey's father and sister Rebecca were in court. Rebecca had her arm around Lacey's father, who had his head down. The judge Robert Neary acknowledged that Lacey suffers from Munchausen by proxy, and that's why he didn't sentence her to the maximum of 25 years. Now Lacey has made several appeals, however, they've all been denied. Lacey, age 27, was imprisoned at Bedford Hill Correctional Facility for Women and will be eligible for parole in June 2034. Lacey still protests her innocence. Her family come to visit her in prison regularly.

31:24 They bring her food parcels because she doesn't like the food in prison. She goes to church once a week and she is starting college. She says that she's been bullied in prison, and she said that in the prison canteen they cover her food with salt.

31:46 So he was buried at the Mount Union General Baptist Church in Kentucky. The headstone reads, Spears, Garnet Paul Thompson, born December 3, 2008, died January 23rd, 2014. There is a photo of him on the grave with his long hair and his big smile. It never should have ended this way for Garnet. There were red flags all over the place. People were suspicious, the doctors were suspicious of her. Why she was left alone with him at the hospital, I just don't know. She could have been stopped. This little boy deserved so much better.

32:26 And he was everyone around him had said he was just a joy. He was a delight, he was inquisitive, you know, he was smiley, he was chatty, he was interested in people. And his own mother killed him. Right, well, that is the case of Lacey Spears. It's a tough one, isn't it? Do let me know what you think of this episode. Um I've had a request to cover the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case, which I may do possibly in the future, but for now I just feel like going lying down in a dark room for a bit. Um, yeah, so thanks everyone for listening.

33:04 And I like to end by saying in a world where you can be anything, be kind. Take care.