Munchausen By Proxy: Mother Smothers Daughter To Get Attention


Minneapolis, MN – A young Minnesota mother has been arrested in what authorities are alleging is a child abuse and murder case stemming from Munchausen by proxy.

Police believe 25-year-old Ashleigh Jennifer Casey, possibly suffering from Munchausen by proxy, smothered her own infant daughter in order to get the attention of doctors.

As a result, she has been charged with two counts of assault for smothering her daughter. She is also facing an additional murder charge four years after the suspicious death of her infant son, reports local news affiliate KARE11.

Munchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention and sympathy.

Munchausen syndrome is related to Munchausen by proxy. This refers to the abuse of another person, typically a child, in order to seek attention or sympathy for the abuser.

Munchausen by proxy describes an obsessive behavior pattern in which a caregiver deliberately exaggerates, fabricates, and/or induces physical, psychological, behavioral, and/or mental health problems in those who are in their care in order to attain attention. The condition is extremely controversial.

An example of Munchausen by proxy is when parents falsely masquerade as though their children are suffering from cancer. They do this in order to garner sympathy and sometimes financial assistance.

Sufferers of the mental illness will go as far as shaving off their child’s hair and convince them they are seriously ill in order to complete the facade. Others go a step further by inducing illnesses through poisoning or over-medicating.

Casey is facing second-degree murder for the death of her infant son, dating back from March 12, 2009.

Police were called out to her St. Louis Park home, responding to a report of a baby not breathing. First responders found the 3-month-old unresponsive on the basement floor. And despite their best efforts to perform CPR, the paramedics were unable to resuscitate the infant, reports CBS News.

Casey told investigators, at the time, that her son had undergone bowel surgery on March 7. He’d been allowed to go home two days later.

Medical records indicated the child returned to the ER on March 12, due to concerns over him fussing and crying. Doctors found nothing wrong. Thus Casey returned home with her son. That evening she claimed she found he wasn’t breathing and ran to the basement to get aid from other family members.

The Hennepin County Medical examiner performed an autopsy. No definitive medical reason was found, and the child’s cause of death was listed as undetermined.

It was later discovered the infant had a prior bout where he’d stopped breathing. However, Casey’s grandmother, a registered nurse, managed to revive him.

Casey was arrested and officially charged Tuesday on the murder charge of her son and the abuse on her daughter. Authorities became involved after physicians caring for her daughter became suspicious of the mother’s behavior.

Her son’s case was reopened in May 2013 when St. Louis Park Police investigators learned of a similar incident involving the mother.

This time in Mille Lacs County with Casey’s 8-month-old daughter.

On May 17, Casey took her baby girl to the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital for tests. Around 3 am Casey alerted a nurse that her daughter wasn’t breathing. The nurse performed CPR and the girl regained consciousness. Thankfully, the child recovered quickly.

This seemed suspicious to the girl’s doctors, who thought Casey might be involved. Leading up to the main event the child had been taken to the hospital several times. But doctors failed to find anything wrong with the little girl on previous visits.

After being thoroughly questioned by a child protection investigator and St. Louis Park Police, Casey told authorities she’d experienced something like a dream, during which she placed her hand over her daughter’s mouth. Casey did make references to Munchausen by proxy.

Additionally, she admitted to holding a blanket over her son’s mouth in 2009.

Child protection officials are currently overseeing the welfare of Casey’s daughter.

[Image via Shutterstock/Mugshot]

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