Detective Says Doctor Admitted Planning Daughter's Murder

MORTON, ILLINOIS--A police detective said Wednesday that Katie McCarron's mother has admitted that she started thinking about murdering the three-year-old girl, who had autism, while playing with her on Saturday, May 13.

Dr. Karen McCarron had told investigators earlier that her daughter was "very stimmy" that day and would not take her nap, when she told her mother, Erna Frank, that she was taking the girl for a drive to calm her down. Instead, McCarron took the girl to Frank's house, where she placed a plastic garbage bag over her daughter's head until she stopped breathing.

McCarron has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is being held in jail on $1 million bond, which was reduced Wednesday from $2 million.

The Peoria Journal News reported that during the bond hearing, Morton Police Detective Ray Ham testified that police have recorded phone calls that McCarron made from jail since her May 16 arrest. On May 18, she reportedly told her mother that she was overwhelmed by Katie's autism.

Ham told the court that Frank responded, "You could have trusted me, you could have talked to me. There were other ways to deal with this."

McCarron's father-in-law, Michael McCarron, was reported Tuesday as saying the killing had nothing to do with autism, noting that Katie had been with her mother for less than two weeks after spending several months with her father and grandparents.

McCarron could face up to 100 years in prison if convicted.

January 18 2007:
PEKIN: Tests can be performed on bag, judge says
BY KAREN McDONALD
of the Journal Star
PEKIN - A Tazewell County judge will allow DNA testing on a plastic bag a Morton mother is accused of using as a weapon to suffocate her 3-year-old autistic daughter.

Judge Stephen Kouri on Thursday ruled against a defense motion asking DNA tests not be allowed on the bag Dr. Karen McCarron allegedly used to suffocate Katherine "Katie" McCarron on May 13.

Marc Wolfe, the Chicago-based attorney for McCarron, said he plans to file a motion to suppress McCarron's confession, which if granted, he claimed could render any DNA evidence moot.

Assistant State's Attorney Kirk Schoenbein said the bag has some "snag marks" that could be evidence of Katherine's tooth marks and there is an unknown spot that could contain DNA.

image

McCarron, now 38, admitted to police she placed a plastic bag over her daughter's head until she was dead. She is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death for allegedly killing her daughter at her mother's Morton home.

Karen McDonald can be reached at 346-5300 or kmcdonald@pjstar.com.

For more on this story, see Friday's Journal Star.
Posted by Anthony Smith on 01/18 at 08:13 PM

Photographs of Katie have been made available for public use by her grandfather. Download yours here: Katie McCarron Photos

Initial news reports on Katie's murder
Daughter's murder puts focus on 'toll of autism' With a cautionary note by us on that "toll of autism" thing.
'This was not about autism', grandfather says Who Katie McCarron really was.
Katie's dad files for divorce, citing 'extreme mental cruelty'
'She told me she killed Katie'
Karen was described as 'lucid' and 'very calm'
Karen's taped confession played in pretrial hearing: 'I wanted to take the autism out of her'
Pretrial and opening statements
Katie's grandpa testifies: Karen thought her life would be 'perfect'. Also, Katie's dad says Karen wanted to institutionalize Katie; Katie's teachers said she was doing fine.
She told Katie's grandma many times she wished Katie was dead
'In heaven, she would be complete'
More analysis of the Journal-Star articles.

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