The 44-year-old mom reportedly abused her 7-year-old daughter to death. Prosecutors said the mother lied about her daughter’s health and deceived doctors into performing unnecessary surgeries. She lied to doctors about her daughter’s medical history while appealing to the public to help her daughter. The 7-year-old girl reportedly received unnecessary surgeries and medications up until her death.
The 44-year-old woman from Colorado, Kelly Turner, pleaded guilty in January to negligent child abuse, charitable fraud and theft between $100,000 and $1 million. A judge on Wednesday sentenced her to 16 years in prison for causing the girl’s death.
Her 7-year-old daughter Olivia Gant had reportedly received unnecessary surgeries and medications up until her death in Denver hospice care in 2017.
Psychiatrists say the mother’s behavior seems consistent with the psychological disorder Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Munchausen’s syndrome is a psychological disorder where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves.
Parents or caregivers with the disorder seek attention by fabricating sickness of their children or dependents and sometimes cause them injuries that require attention.
According to reports, the mother of three lied to doctors about Olivia’s medical history while appealing to the public to help her daughter. Through this she was able receive money and other favors from organizations like the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The 7-year-old girl reportedly gained media attention as her mom secured experiences for her claiming that she was terminally ill and had a bucket list she wanted to fulfill. She was made honorary police chief for a day and rode along with officers. Unfortunately, she died four months later.
Suspicions were raised when the mother, who had moved from Texas to Colorado, brought one of her other two daughters in to the same hospital with bone pain. Prosecutors said the 13-year-old child had not complained of any medical issues up until that point and is now in her grandparents’ care, as per the reports.
Olivia’s body was then exhumed and an autopsy was performed. Doctors revealed that Olivia’s manner of death was undetermined based on a series of nonspecific results, as per reports.
There was a lack of any findings that proved Olivia’s death was caused by intestinal failure or any of the other illnesses that her mother claimed she was suffering from.
Before Olivia was admitted to hospice care where she died, doctors said she had only been receiving 30 percent of the required nutrition, according to the indictment.
The judge ruled that the 44-year-old mother cannot gain any further benefits from her child’s death, according to reports.