Mom’s failed murder attempt on Autistic son ends in suicide
Even though the Autistic son who a mother failed to strangle to death is 20 years old, I am putting this under the category of “child abuse” since the young was functionally retarded.
When the failed murder attempt was foiled, the mother then took her own life.
The family is blaming it on depression. Let this be a wake-up call. Those with clinical depression should be forbidden from caring for others, especially children. They just aren’t capable of doing it without a significant amount of risk.
Investigators said on Jan. 4, Tegtmeier called Ankeny Schools at 7:30 a.m. and said her son Rory Jr. was sick and she cancelled his bus pickup. Tegtmeier also called a siding company that was coming to work on her home and told them not to come because of a family matter. She then called her husband at his Ames office and left a message that she could not keep their 11 a.m. lunch appointment.
Police said following her phone calls Tegtmeier went to an upstairs bathroom and attempted to strangle her son with a cord.
During interviews with Rory Jr., 20, who has autism, investigators learned that Rory Jr. struggled to get free from the cord and forcefully pushed his mother away. He then hid in the basement, later telling investigators he was scared of his mother.
Rory Jr. told investigators he then heard a loud noise and rushed back upstairs to find his mother on the kitchen floor. Police said she had taken her own life by strangling herself.
Information from: http://www.kcci.com/news/15130578/detail...
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1. geoff
February 6, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
I know it is easy to judge and what happened is horrible. I just want to say that I knew Sheila (Berk)Tegtmeier, graduated one year behind her from a very small high school. She was an exceptional person, kind-hearted; really one of the most pleasant people I knew growing up. She was one of those people who when you look back you wonder why you didn’t spend more time with her. But whatever. I can’t imagine what she must have been feeling, but I think she probably wanted to take her son with her, didn’t want to leave him behind. It is horrible to think about, but she must have struggled with this. And she probably wondered what her son’s future as a low-functioning autistic man was going to be like without her. I hope that people who cast judgment on Sheila can find a place in their heart to grieve for a loving mother who must have been suffering horribly.
2. Joe
October 31, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
If you don’t have a child with autism you don’t have a clue. Every parent goes through hell. To think that autism has always been here and we are just figuring out how to diagnosis it now is bullshit. Autism is a product of the modern world. The government and pharmaceutical companies call it acceptable collateral damage. Yes, autism is due to vaccination. Autism didn’t exist and was never described in history before 1940. Normal immunity occurs through the mucus membranes (inhalation or oral intake), not through intramuscular injections of antigenic particles (vaccines). Vaccines contain “immune stimulants” that cause the immune system to be chronically activated and impair normal development. All of the heartache and suffering of children with autism and their parents would not exist if vaccination did not exist. The lady is this story would be alive, her son would be healthy and making her proud. WAKE THE F*** UP!
3. Val
December 18, 2008 @ 11:12 am
Has anybody sitting in judgement ever looked after an autistic child??? Well I have. Now imagine that you do YOUR job 24/7, 52 weeks of the year for 20 years, thats on call day and night, no social life, no relaxed home life and not only that, probably getting your house damaged and things thrown at you. I looked after my son for 10 years before he went into residential school and at the end of it I was on anti depressants. Also, before you start passing judgement on me, I did and still do love my son very very much.
4. no name
December 19, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
I am so sorry for the pain of parents and children today. I have had a horrible past and now raising my kids from day to day with nothing to fall back on because I refuse to do anything to them that was done to me. I do understand a great deal what this poor mother has gone thru. Struggling as a young mother trying to raise my kids the best I could on low income and no help was hard. I was forced to leave them in a horrible day care so I could work and provide. These ppl refused to feed my son and ignored my pleas. They treated him like a third class citizen because we weren’t higher class like the owners. Now he too has learning problems due to lack of nutrition. He hasn’t had a clear diagnosis as to what’s wrong with him but watching him struggle just makes me down-hearted. (His school counselor thinks he has a mild form of autism). He will make it; I know he will but I just get angry at the lack of care society in general has for children. We’ll be fine; we’re strong.
5. Janine
April 1, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
1st of all I am a mother of a 15 year old Autistic child,I’ve raised him all his life by myself.It’s hard and only gets harder because of their every day challenges and growing up.My son didn’t get it threw shots like every one says,he died inside of me while i was giving birth to him and he was out for 12 minutes and part of his brain was damaged.that’s how he got it.It makes me sick to read this but nobody knows why she tried this,I do agree she probably thought she was doing what’s best for her child thinking of how his future is gonna be,it’s hard I wonder about it every day if anything happens to me where my child would be at and he’ll never be able to be on his own.I’m not going to judge her on this because I knows where she’s coming from and it’s a tough life,I myself have been on depression pills for a year now.I’ve have some awful thoughts when things got tough but never went threw anything.I love my son he is my life,I wouldn’t change a thing.But you can’t judge someone unless you’ve been in their shoes.
6. Lou 72
December 13, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
I have two blind kids who also have autism. I have a loving, involved husband but no family who is supportive of us. We live in hell every single day - every hours of our lives. Is it dramatic? Not at all - it’s simply fact and I challenge any sceptics out there to come stay with me for a day - just one night will leave them reeling. Lack of sleep - 3 hrs a night (usually broken sleep between the two of them) screaming that can go on from night time to the following day without anything that CAN be done about it, terrible behaviours that are hard to come to terms with, fecal smearing, pica (nothing is safe in the house - they will bite/chew/destroy EVERYTHING, the walls, furniture, - they destroy their own clothes chewing them to pieces.. We have no money - it’s all pumped into gluten and dairy free products, supplements which cost a fortune and expensive therapies. We long to have them call us Mom and Dad - for them to love us, show us some hint of emotion instead of pushing us away every time to reach out and kiss/hug them… when they bite us, kick us, lash out at us because we’re in their “space” - we’re in this carefully shut out world of autism and they dont want us in there with them… they want to sit and rock in a corner, never do or learn anything and we are the enemy to them because we teach them and keep on teaching until they learn the skills they need to function as normally as possible in this world.. I could go on and on with a list of other reasons why I long to go to sleep every night and hate waking up every day… and I ADORE MY CHILDREN - so please dont judge us unless you have been in this situation… the pain is intense, the isolation is chilling…
7. Jay
January 6, 2010 @ 2:36 am
Thanks to Hollywood, people have a distorted view of what autism really is. Any time I talk about it, people think of Rain Man. Autism is nothing like Rain Man, people. You don’t get a kid who is a walking calculator.
I have twin nieces with severe autism. It is absolutely heartbreaking. They will never be potty trained. They’ll never talk. They smear feces on themselves, each other, and anyone else they can reach. They’re getting towards puberty so they masturbate in public whenever the mood strikes. They will never talk, nor will they ever be able to care for themselves at any level. Their parents never get a break, nor will they EVER get a break. Severe autism for the parent is like a life sentence of hard labor. You spend each day working at 110% knowing that you are never going to make any progress.
I can only imagine what it will be like when their parents reach old age. Imagine being 75, and having to change your 50 year old twins’ diapers a dozen or more times a day.
Walk a mile in this mother’s shoes before you judge her.