Autistic Teenager murdered by mother, godmother

[Ahriman238]

Ok, it's a week old and my original source was the Daily Mail. Still merits discussion. After a hard-fought campaign to have her son, Alex, released from institution alizarin into her care, Dorothy Spourdalakis decided she couldn't handle her son after all and decided the only rational option was to form a murder-suicide pact with the boy's godmother. *slowclap*

Desperate mother and godmother 'killed severely autistic boy, 14, by stabbing him multiple times in the chest' when they became overwhelmed caring for him 24/7 after demanding he be removed from the hospital and in put in their care
Mother Dorothy Spourdalakis campaigned for Alex to be removed from the hospital so he could receive better care
Disgraced British autism researcher Andrew Wakefield recorded a YouTube request for help so Alex would not be committed to a psychiatric ward
After Alex left the hospital, Spourdalakis and his godmother Jolanta Agatha Skrodzka looked after him 24 hours a day
Police say the women became overwhelmed when Alex's condition deteriorated outside the hospital
Skrodzka also allegedly killed the family cat because the women did not want it to go to an animal shelter
By MICHAEL ZENNIE
PUBLISHED: 21:38 EST, 12 June 2013 | UPDATED: 16:59 EST, 13 June 2013
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A mother stabbed her severely autistic son several times in the chest then nearly severed his hand slashing his wrist after she and the 14-year-old's godmother became overwhelmed caring for the boy day and night after taking him out of the hospital just weeks ago, police say.
Dorothy Spourdalakis had pleaded for financial help this spring to remove her son Alex from hospitals in Chicago, where she claimed he was neglected and abused. Controversial British autism researcher Andrew Wakefield personally recorded a YouTube request for help last month to find Alex a home and said that he would be taken away from his mother if supporters didn't act.
After Wakefield's appeal, Alex left the hospital and was taken into Spourdalakis' care.
Weeks later, police say, Spourdalakis and his godmother and caretaker Jolanta Agatha Skrodzka could no longer handle round-the-clock care for Alex because they believed the 200-pound teen's 'emotional condition had worsened' since he was removed from the hospital.
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Stabbed: 14-year-old Alex Spourdalakis was found dead in his bed Sunday afternoon, with several stab wounds to his chest. Above, a recent picture of Alex restrained at a hospital where he was being treated for gastrointestinal problems


Suicide pact: Dorothy Spourdalakis, 50, and Jolanta Skrodzka, 40, planned to commit suicide after killing 14-year-old Alex. They took sleeping pills, but did not die


Andrew Wakefield, a controversial British autism researcher, recorded a personal appeal for donations or help to have Alex removed from the hospital where he was committed in May
Mother and godmother overwhelmed with caring for autistic boy

The Chicago Tribune reports that Spourdalakis and Skrodzka planned a suicide pact in their cramped apartment above a plumber in River Grove, Illinois.
They first allegedly tried to kill Alex with sleeping pills. When that didn't work, police say, Alex's mother grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the teenage boy multiple times in the chest as he lay in bed, according to authorities. She then allegedly slashed the boy's wrist, nearly cutting off his hand.
Once Alex was dead, she handed the knife to Skrodzka, who used it to kill the family cat. A suicide note said the women killed the cat because they did not want it to go to a shelter.

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The pair wiped off the knife and returned it to the butcher's block in the kitchen. The detailed their actions in a suicide note, according to authorities.
They then took sleeping pills with the intention of killing themselves and laid down in Alex's bedroom and locked the door, according to authorities.
The boy's father, who is separated from Spourdalakis, found Alex dead and the two women barely conscious after he went to the apartment when no one answered his repeated phone calls.

Caretaker: This image shows Dorothy Spourdalakis, 50, washing her son's feet while is he restrained to the bed in hospital

Round-the-clock: Skrodzka is seen feeding Alex through a straw. She also provided care for the teen around the clock

Spourdalakis claims her son was abused and neglected at Loyola University Medical Center, where he was tied to the bed because he could become violent
Spourdalakis, 50, and Skrodzka, 44, were taken to the hospital, where they were treated and then charged with first degree murder.
'The murder was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner,' Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Maureen O’Brien told the Tribune.
The two women had been publicly campaigning for Alex to receive better care since March, when Spourdalakis alleged in the autism activism site Age of Autism, that her son was mistreated at Loyola University Medical Center.
Days later, Spourdalakis wrote on Age of Autism that a donor had come forward and given her the money to let her take Alex away from the hospital. She said that the money allowed her to take Alex to get the care needed.
'We know no one will help us unless we help ourselves,' she wrote.

Andy Wakefield previously appealed for help to take Alex out of...

By May, he was back in the hospital and was facing long term psychiatric commitment.
Controversial British surgeon Andrew Wakefield also became involved, asking the 'autism community' to help find Alex a place to stay before he was put in 'long term psychiatric care.' He said Alex needed someone to provide a place where he could 'be on the necessary diet' and 'complete the treatment' for his autism.
Wakefield has been stricken from the British medical register. He is an autism researcher who claims to have found a link between the measles vaccine and autism - though his research was later discredited.
'He needs something simple in the country where he can run around and get the treatment that he needs so he can get better,' a beleaguered Spourdalakis said in a May interview with Autism Media Channel.

No answer: When no one answered the phone, the boy's father and uncle went over to the apartment and discovered Alex dead

Interviewed: The boy's mother, Dorothy Spourdalakis, was interviewed this past March when he was being kept in restraints at a local hospital. Dorothy has already issued a statement to the police but the caregiver is not cooperating
Wakefield responded to the MailOnline's story with the following statement:
'On Sunday May 26, members of the Autism Media Channel (AMC) went to the Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. There we visited the late Alex Spourdalakis, his mother Dorothy, and his Godmother. Alex was in four-point restraint and apparently refusing to eat or drink.
His mother was beyond exhaustion and despair. The main reason for her despair was the prospect of Alex being sent to a long-stay psychiatric hospital and heavily medicated with behavior-altering drugs drugs without any treatment of his underlying medical problems.
AMC issued an appeal on Alex’s behalf to protect him from this fate. We did not, at any stage, advocate for his release from the Lutheran General Hospital.
The following day Dorothy informed us that the hospital could find nowhere that would take Alex and that his insurance carrier had refused to pay for any further inpatient care at the Lutheran General Hospital.
It appears that, as a consequence, he was discharged from that hospital despite his precarious position and that of his carers. It is our opinion that Alex’s tragic death reflects the abject failings of a medical system that has no effective answer to the autism crisis.'

Wakefield's involvement really puts the cherry on top, and the women even killed the cat to keep it out of a shelter. I definitely understand feeling overwhelmed with autism, but there are resources, a community. If murdering your child ever seems like a rational solution, you are a shirty parent.

But the weirdest thing coming out of this is the people defending Alex Spourdalakis' killers. Have a look here.

As a caregiver to my mother who was disabled with Parkinson's Disease, There were some days that it was simply too exhausting, and overwhelming. There is NO help for family caregivers, despite what one may hear other than the usual nonsense about taking care of your self first. How can you even find time to do that when your loved one NEEDS your attention 24 hours a day, everyday? We all do it out of pure love, but even that is not enough at times. Outside caregivers will come and go..not show up for work, all your love one can count on is you. There were days that it actually made sense to end our lives together. SO I understand where these ladies were coming from when they decided to act on their thoughts. May there be compassion for all of them. This poor boy needed a lot of physical help due to his condition, even two middle aged ladies would not have been enough as he grew bigger and stronger. All the ones spouting judgement on these women, should actually walk in their shoes.

Is there something in the water? I've heard horror stories of disabled children murdered by their families before, always taking place in some backwoods. this is central Illinois.

[someone_else]

If murdering your child ever seems like a rational solution, you are a shirty parent.

I really doubt that the two women did use anything other than emotions.
In a case like this they could have got away with a fatal "incident" and a few years in jail for negligence, if planned well.
Stabbing the poor guy was not humane at all, and not being able to kill either him or themselves with pills does speak badly about their intelligence.

But the weirdest thing coming out of this is the people defending Alex Spourdalakis' killers. Have a look here.

Heh, if they were in Italy that would be 80% correct. Here it's hard to get anything for mental health problems. My granny does (alzheimer or simply senility, none gave a good answer), but as long as she can walk and tell her name we are not entitled to any assistance (the fact that she moves and thinks like a 3 yo seems to not matter). And even if we are, the facilities don't accept more than 50-60 people total out of a city well above tens of thousands of population.
No groups of families with that problem that share something, no nothing else.
So we just suck it up and keep her in our own home (as she can't be left alone in her house, she is basically a very old-looking 3 yo girl).
While I have to admit that there are times where "law should allow to end the life when over a certain age and/or when mind illness is so rampant" discussion did arise (empty rants mainly), none of us even though about the idea of a murder-suicide. Maybe because not even her daughter (my mother) does really love her so much?

We do have a decent income so it's doable with some discomfort for both parties, but what if we didn't?

Is there something in the water? I've heard horror stories of disabled children murdered by their families before, always taking place in some backwoods. this is central Illinois.

They must have moved from some backwoods, or have backwood mentality. They just need to be idiot and desperate to do things like this.

[Broomstick]

Public and health services have been slashed for years in Illinois. Outside of hospitals no, there is NOT good support for caregivers, often none at all. While I can in no way approve of their actions I do have some understanding of how they became so desperate.

[LaCroix]

But the weirdest thing coming out of this is the people defending Alex Spourdalakis' killers.

These people are aware that we essentially have three victims here - the two caregivers are getting a very pointy short end of the stick, and bear enourmous pressure. They were left to simmer until they crack. While I can't approve of their actions, I can't find it in me to lay all the blame on them, either.

[Hillary]

But the weirdest thing coming out of this is the people defending Alex Spourdalakis' killers.

These people are aware that we essentially have three victims here - the two caregivers are getting a very pointy short end of the stick, and bear enourmous pressure. They were left to simmer until they crack. While I can't approve of their actions, I can't find it in me to lay all the blame on them, either.

Indeed, this is simply a very tragic situation.

[Lagmonster]

I'd think that a good cure for how we feel about this situation is too look at the entire community of caretakers/debilitating disease sufferers. If the overwhelming majority of people in this country who cannot take care of themselves, are adequately cared for by loving family, friends, or state, then we can breathe a sigh of relief and acknowledge that this was an anomaly, a tragedy, and the human spirit is surviving. If there are repeated and frequent cases of supposedly loving caregivers 'snapping', then your society has a problem.

[Broomstick]

Where "adequately cared for by loving family, friends, or state" breaks down is the "state" part in the US. The state doesn't take care of the ill and disabled, that's a job for friends and family. And if family and friends either don't exist or can't cope then there is no safety net.

It the pernicious side of the self-reliance meme - it leaves those who can not care for themselves out in the cold. Someone as disabled as this young man was can't simply try harder or pick themselves up by their own bootstraps - nevermind the "straps", they haven't even "boots"!

I've cared for ill and disabled/dying relatives. That was only possible due to a family that really will work together, and friends able to give me some mental/physical relief periodically. In one instance that required me putting my own life on hold for several months and completely eclipsed any ability for me to do work that would allow me to support myself, my family paid my bills during those times.

This situation, however, was NOT short term or temporary. This man could have lived decades in this state. There was no end in sight for these women. If they had no means of respite care, if it was only the two of them with no outside help, if they didn't have the means to purchase help or relief... yes, their desperation becomes all too understandable.

As tragic as it may have been, the young man probably DID belong in an inpatient facility. The energy of the women would have been better spent visiting him there frequently and advocating for his care (the patients with squeaky wheel relatives that won't go away do tend to get better care).