A Missouri Mom Allegedly Left Her Blind, Autistic Son To Die In The Woods: ‘Let God Take You’
A Missouri woman allegedly took her blind, autistic son into the woods and left him there to die, allegedly telling him, “Please, let God take you,” The Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader is reporting.
On August 29, Polk County deputies found Kimberly Lightwine in the woods, wearing only her underwear, incoherent, rambling about God, and begging for water. 20 feet away was the dead body of her blind, autistic, 19-year-old-son, identified as Austin Anderson.
#Noticias “Deja que Dios te lleve”: el brutal crimen de una madre asesina: Kimberly Lightwine con… https://t.co/lGZggg7OFX #Actualidad
— StrangerThings (@jaime_toth) September 7, 2016
Police took her to a nearby squad car and gave her water, and as she began to calm down, an affidavit says, she began explaining herself.
“I’m a terrible mother, I got high, and I got depressed, and I think I am going to throw up. killed my kid, I killed my kid, I killed my kid, I killed my kid.”
Her son, Austin, was found wearing a full diaper, according to The Washington Post. Authorities believe he died from dehydration, as well as having not been given life-saving medicine that managed a medical condition. They are not sure how long he had been in the woods, but authorities said that during his ordeal, the temperature had reached as high as 91 degrees.
Austin was blind in both eyes, said his non-custodial father, and he had the mental capacity of an 8- or 9-year-old. He had a muscle problem that made it difficult for him to walk. Further, he was unable to feed himself, change his diaper, give himself medication, or care for himself. He was able to talk, but not much. His father also said he had a “very bad and violent temper.”
More on the death of Austin Anderson and the charges against his mother, Kimberly Lightwine, at 5 & 6. pic.twitter.com/IvtjpJAC7M
— KY3 News (@kytv) September 6, 2016
Police are still trying to piece together the timeline of events that led to Austin’s death, but Lightwine has been unable to give them much information because she was allegedly high on meth during the ordeal.
On August 26, a family member reported Lightwine and Austin missing. The next day, they were seen leaving a motel in the nearby town of Bolivar, Missouri. Police searching the hotel room Lightwine had rented found evidence of methamphetamine in the hotel room.
Lightwine doesn’t remember much of what happened next. At some point, she remembers pushing him through a fence to get into the woods.
“Get out of the car and go reach for help. Put your hands in front of you for help and God is going to take care of you.”
Austin tried, awkwardly, to walk back to his mother, saying only “Mom,” and each time she would push him away.
“You mother f****r, I’m sick of your s**t… Come and bring it on… He kept saying, ‘I want to go home mommy, I want to go home.'”
Some time later, Austin was unable to continue walking to his mother. He laid down in the woods and died some time later, but it’s not clear how long.
“I don’t know how many days, I don’t know how long he’d been on the ground, he cried for me. I just blocked it out. I just kept thinking that God or somebody came and got him and took him where he needed to be.”
Polk County Sheriff Kay Williams said that in his 40 years of law enforcement, he’s never seen anything like this. “People are shocked,” he said.
Lightwine has been taken into police custody and has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree elder abuse (in Missouri, the crime of elder abuse is extended to include crimes against disabled adults and disabled children). She remains jailed on $250,000 bond.
Graveside services for the blind, autistic boy allegedly left to die in the woods have been scheduled for today.
[Image via Shutterstock/zlikovec]
