John Glatt - My Sweet Angel: The True Story of Lacey Spears, the Seemingly Perfect Mother Who Murdered Her Son in Cold Blood

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

For Jerome Freund

19242015

On a sunny morning in early June 2015, I caught the train to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in upstate New York. After many weeks of negotiations, I was on my way to visit inmate Lacey Spears, who had been a resident of the maximum-security womens prison for the previous three months, serving twenty years to life for the depraved indifference murder of her beautiful five-year-old son, Garnett.

I had spent eighteen months researching every inch of Laceys life, as well as sitting through her entire trial, so I was curious to finally meet her in person. Despite much anticipation that she would take the stand to explain how massive amounts of salt had gotten into Garnetts body and killed him, she had decided at the last minute not to testify.

Outside the prison I was met by one of her attorneys, Stephen Riebling, who had helped arrange the visit and would be my guide through the thick layers of security. When we finally reached the visiting room, complete with soda machines and pictures on the walls, several other inmates were already there with their families.

After several minutes, Lacey entered, wearing a light-pink short-sleeve shirt and trousers, her long hair tied severely back. As she sat down across the long table from me, I was surprised at how petite she is. She immediately informed me that she had read eight of my true crime books in preparation for our meeting.

I first asked her how she was faring in the prisons general population after her case had received such heavy media coverage and had made her the poster child for Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Its been brutal, she admitted, adding that the other inmates constantly mocked her behind her back with taunts of baby killer and mother of the year.

But I know its not who I am, she explained defiantly.

For the next several hours, Lacey spoke about her life and her love of Garnett, emphasizing she would never have done anything to harm him. Articulate and fluent, she appeared eager to talk, often elaborating well beyond my questions. She vehemently protested her innocence, complaining that she had been railroaded by police and was in fact the victim in this tragic case. She blamed doctors and nurses at the two hospitals that treated Garnett in his final days, saying they had made mistakes and were solely responsible for his death.

I think about Garnett all the time, she told me emotionally, and Ill always love him.

Throughout our interview, Lacey expressed confidence that justice would prevail, that she would soon be back home with her family and getting on with life.

I will fight to get out of here and go home, she said.

Lacey also totally refuted any suggestion that she suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which had been suggested by many, including Judge Robert Neary at her sentencing.

I couldnt believe what he said, she told me angrily. Hes had no training as a psychiatrist.

This book is the result of extensive interviews with Laceys friends and acquaintances over the years, many of whom wished to remain anonymous.

Most of all Id like to thank the three main case investigators, Detective Daniel Carfi of the Westchester County Police and detectives Kirk Budnick and Gregory Dunn of the Town of Ramapo Police Department. Their unstinting help was invaluable, and they were always there to answer my questions about this complex case spanning four states.

Thanks also to Laceys tenacious defense team of David Sachs and Stephen Riebling, for their invaluable help and for facilitating my meeting with Lacey Spears, and to Rebecca Spears for talking to me. I know how difficult it must have been for her.

I am especially grateful to Chris Hill, who told me over an emotional lunch in Decatur, Alabama, about his brief affair with Lacey, which had resulted in Garnett.

I would also like to thank Ricardo Alv, Ginger Dabbs-Anderson, Seth Burkett, Shawn Cohen, Rania Cottingham, Lucian Chalfen, Ramapo Police Detective Lieutenant Mark Emma, Dr. Marc Feldman, Nellie Grossenbacher, Lee Higgins, Kathy Hunt, Laura Jarosch, Ian Lamb, Shawna and Jeannine Lynch, Christine OBrien, Amy and Michael Pollick, Mallory McWhorter, Kenwood Paulen, Will Payne, Kimberly Philipson, Melissa Ramos, Barry Spear, Juani Tantillo, Tonya Wallenstein, and Robert Wolf.

As always I am deeply indebted to Charles Spicer and April Osborn at St. Martins Press for the wonderful job they always do. Much gratitude also to Jane Dystel and Miriam Goderich of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management for their unstinting encouragement and support.

Id also like to thank my wife, Gail, Jerry and Emily Freund; Debbie, Douglas and Taylor Baldwin; Gurcher, Danny, Cari and Allie Trachtenberg; Annette Witheridge, Virginia Randall, Katherine OConnell, Roger Hitts, Big Bob Gibson, and Ena Bissell.

A little after 2:00 on a slow Friday afternoon, Oona Youngers cell phone rang. It was a brief call that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Its happening again! Lacey Spears yelled down the phone.Garnetts having more seizures! I have to get him to the hospital!

Laceys adorable five-year-old son had been home from school for a week with a high fever. Several times already he had been rushed to the emergency room for seizures, so Oona knew it could be a matter of life and death.

She was frantic, remembered Oona. She kept screaming, Get Judys car! Get Judys car!

Since the twenty-six-year-old single mother and Garnett had first arrived at the Fellowship Community, Oona had taken them under her wing. Now, fifteen months later, in January 2014, she considered them family.

She was the daughter that I never had, said Oona, forty-nine, and Garnett was like an extra son.

Married, with a grown-up son, Oona had lived almost ten years in the secluded Fellowship Community in Rockland County, New York. Founded half a century ago, the nonprofit farming cooperatives seventy adults and children follow the spiritual science teachings of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. There is an eldercare home, crafts studios, and a large working farm with cows, sheep, and chickens.

Forty-six-year-old former businessman Matt Uppenbrink, who now runs the Fellowship, first met Lacey and Garnett through a mutual friend in Clearwater, Florida. With his encouragement, the widowed young mother had applied to join the Fellowship so that Garnett could attend its prestigious Green Meadow Waldorf School. After several interviews and a reference check, they had been welcomed into the community.

Lacey and Garnett had arrived in early November 2012, soon after Hurricane Sandy had ravaged the small cluster of Fellowship buildings. They moved into the Uppenbrinks house until an apartment was available.

From the beginning, Lacey Spears had made a big impression on everyone with her tragic life story. She would emotionally recount how Garnetts father, Blake, a policeman, had been killed in a car crash. There had also been several miscarriages before and after Garnett, a very sick baby who had been in and out of hospitals since birth.