Inclusion Daily Express -- Jury Finds McCarron Guilty Of Murdering Daughter, 3

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Jury Finds McCarron Guilty Of Murdering Daughter, 3
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 18, 2008

PEKIN, ILLINOIS--Dr. Karen McCarron was found guilty Thursday of suffocating her 3-year-old daughter Katherine and then trying to cover up the crime.

It took a Tazewell County jury nine hours of deliberation over two days to convict the former pathologist of two counts of murder, plus counts of obstruction of justice and concealment of a homicide in the death of Katie, who had autism.

McCarron, 39, faces between 60 and 100 years in prison when sentenced on March 6.

McCarron confessed to police that on May 13, 2006, she took Katie and her younger sister to the house of the girl's grandmother, just around the corner from the McCarron home. There, she took Katie inside and suffocated her with a plastic trash bag. Then she drove back home, stopping at a convenience store to discard the bag in the trash. Once home, McCarron carried Katie's lifeless body past family members and up to her bedroom, and tucked her into bed. Then she pretended to be surprised that Katie would not wake up.

The next day, emergency personnel were called to the home after McCarron attempted suicide by taking over-the-counter Tylenol.

The jury heard that McCarron told police that she was trying to end her pain and that of her daughter's "disease", when she put the plastic bag over the girl's head and held it for about two minutes -- well after Katie stopped breathing.

"Maybe I could fix her this way, and in heaven she would be complete," she told investigators.

During one particularly chilling point during the trial, while McCarron had taken the stand in her own defense, she reportedly showed little emotion as she demonstrated how she wrapped the plastic bag over her daughter's head. She told the courtroom that she could see Katie's face as she struggled, but that she held the plastic bag tight until the girl's heart stopped.

McCarron had pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. But, during the two week trial, many people testified that she was embarrassed by her daughter's autism, and was obsessed with finding a cure. Family members noted that Katie had only been back with her mother in Illinois for less than two weeks before she was killed. For nearly two years before that, the child was with her father and paternal grandmother in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In a public statement, Katie's father Paul McCarron wrote: "I ask all parents, and especially those of children with disabilities, to always love your children and be proud of them. Cherish every moment you have with them. Love, patience and tender efforts are the best therapies."

Related:
"McCarron trial ends with guilty verdict" (Pekin Daily Times)
http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2008/01/19/news/news3.txt
"McCarron Case Places Focus On Autism" (WEEK-TV)
http://www.week.com/news/health/13906067.html
"Locals react to verdict" (Pekin Daily Times)
http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2008/01/18/news/news2.txt
Karen McCarron: Doctor Says She Killed Daughter To "End Their Pain"
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/il/mccarron.htm

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