Vermont Mother, Boyfriend Arrested For Murder Of Disabled Son, Alcohol Put In Boy’s IVs

Vermont State Police say a mother, Melissa Robitille, and her boyfriend, Walter Richter III, put alcohol in her disabled 13-year-old son’s IV tube, killing him.

ABC News reports that Robitille were both charged with second-degree murder in the death of Isaac Robitille, the 13-year-old boy. Police say that Melissa called them on August 22 to report her son was dead. However, after a police investigation, enough evidence was found to charge both Robitille and Richter for murder in the case.

According to WVAH, Isaac was born with significant medical conditions and multiple disabilities that required the assistance of caretakers, feeding tubes and intravenous tubes on a daily basis. Isaac’s health conditions included a brain abnormality that was listed as the official cause of death by the coroner along with the alcohol listed as a contributing factor.

An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office found that the disabled boy’s blood alcohol content was 0.146 percent, about twice the legal limit for driving. This alcohol content was then determined as a contributing factor in his death. The police allege that both Melissa Robitille and Richter knowingly put alcohol into the boy’s IV, thus resulting in his death.

Vermont State Police said Robitille and Richter were in custody.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time a mother has murdered her disabled child. The Inquisitr previously reported that a mother was convicted of murder for killing her 8-year-old disabled daughter. According to police records, at 1pm on Friday, March 11, 2011, Christel Johnson placed her 8-year-old daughter Lylah alongside her in a minivan parked inside the closed garage of their home on Leonard Drive. Johnson attached a vacuum hose to the vehicle’s exhaust pipe and funneled the other end through the van’s rear window. Thus gradually filling up the interior with toxic fumes.

Whenever a case such as this comes into the media spotlight, many start to ponder if more emotional and mental support is needed for some families caring for disabled children. In fact, Caregiver Action Network notes that many caregivers, whose lives have been radically and unexpectedly changed by caring for an ill or disabled loved one, slip into depression disorders. In fact, virtually half of the respondents to the NFCA caregiver survey said they have experienced prolonged depression because of their caregiving responsibilities. Advocacy groups such as CAN are hoping to give caregivers the resources they need to overcome the obstacles they face along with proper tools to seek help when psychological issues arise in the caregiver.

Could efforts from these organizations help ensure cases like Melissa Robitille and Christel Johnson become less frequent?