--- title: Lacey Spears Pleads Not Guilty to Poisoning Son for Online Attention description: Mommy blogger Lacey Spears pled not guilty to poisoning her son in a case of Munchausen by proxy canonical: https://time.com/2894640/lacey-spears-poison-son-munchausen/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-18T16:31:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:53.544Z og:title: Mommy Blogger Pleads Not Guilty to Fatally Poisoning Her Son og:description: Critics say she did it for online attention og:url: https://time.com/2894640/lacey-spears-poison-son-munchausen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mommy Blogger Pleads Not Guilty to Fatally Poisoning Her Son twitter:description: Critics say she did it for online attention twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Mommy Blogger Lacey Spears Pleads Not Guilty to Fatally Poisoning Her Son by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jun 18, 2014 4:31 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jun 18, 2014 4:31 PM UTC For 26-year-old mother Lacey Spears, the internet served as her support group. The single mom [blogged](http://garnettsjourney.blogspot.co.uk), tweeted, and MySpaced about the physical deterioration of her son Garnett. Spears sought solace in a cultivated online community when she [blogged about Garnett’s 23 hospitalizations](http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/03/23/chestnut-ridge-boys-death-reveals-moms-lies/6736141/) in the first year of his life to his last month alive in January, when the 5-year-old [died with a lethal amount of sodium in his system](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/30/5-year-old-garnett-spears-death-ruled-homicide-sources-tell-wcbs-880/) in a hospital in Westchester, NY. > [](https://twitter.com/SCMLMag/status/465039012881629184) But law enforcement have come to question the highly documented narrative of a doting mother. Police say that Spears wasn’t helping her ambiguously ill son, but rather was poisoning him for years in a bid for attention and sympathy in a case of [Munchausen syndrome by proxy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchausen%5Fsyndrome%5Fby%5Fproxy). Following the [release of a five-part exposé by The Journal News](http://archive.lohud.com/article/99999999/LONGFORM01/399990221) and the filing of police charges, Spears turned herself in to authorities Tuesday and pled not guilty to second-degree depraved murder and first-degree manslaughter. > [](https://twitter.com/goinsidecrime/status/466168188019814400) Spears’ illness was allegedly fed by online attention, and [prosecutors said](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/06/17/lacey-spears-pleads-not-guilty-to-poisoning-5-year-old-son-to-death-in-westchester-county/) that the Internet-savvy mother had searched online for the effects salt would have on her son’s health before taking him to the hospital January 17, after she said he experienced seizures. He died six days later after his sodium levels rose sans medical explanation. Investigators suspect that she fatally poisoned him through his feeding tube. > [](https://twitter.com/NewsBreaker/status/479291857772769280) Apart from saying “yes sir,” to a judge in court, Spears remained silent. “She really didn’t show any emotion,” [Westchester Police Capt. Christopher Calabrese told CBS News](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/06/17/lacey-spears-pleads-not-guilty-to-poisoning-5-year-old-son-to-death-in-westchester-county/). “She was kind of stoic when she came here. I think that she knew the grand jury was going on. She anticipated this happening, and she turned herself in with her attorney.” Spears is expected to reappear in court on July 2\. 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