Articles labeled: Ankeny Schools

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.