INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS -- Chelsea Capra Craig

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for home page

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for two weeks FREE . . .

Chelsea Capra Craig

"This is not a Latimer case. This is not a mercy killing."
--Dr. Renee Fugure, a psychiatrist testifying on behalf of Rachel Capra Craig, who admitted to murdering her 14-year-old daughter, Chelsea, that had Rett syndrome

March 29, 2001: Mother Charged With Poisoning Teenage Daughter
April 6, 2001: Mom Will Stand Trial For Murdering Daughter
February 20, 2002: Capra Craig Found Not Responsible For Daughter's Murder
July 8, 2002: Murderer Mom Kills Self After Leaving Psychiatric Institution

Related resources:
Tracy Latimer's Death: Mercy or Murder?

Mother Charged With Poisoning Teenage Daughter
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 29, 2001

POINTE CLAIRE, QUEBEC--On March 19, Jim Craig arrived home from work to find his 14-year-old daughter Chelsea unconscious at the bottom of a flight of stairs. He called emergency personnel, but it was too late. She died without gaining consciousness.

Chelsea's mother, Rachel Craig, was taken into police custody and was charged two days later with first-degree murder in her daughter's death. Police claim that Rachel, 46, had mixed together a deadly combination of medications and gave it to her daughter. They say Rachel took some of the mixture herself, and was also treated at the hospital.

Chelsea had Rett syndrome, a condition that has some of the same characteristics as autism, yet only affects girls. Most girls who have Rett syndrome, including Chelsea, do not talk and are not able to walk.

A funeral service was held for Chelsea on Saturday. Several girls with Rett syndrome attended, along with their parents.

"Chelsea's laughter, I think, is the memory I will treasure," Jim Craig said in the eulogy. "She never failed to lift my spirits." Fighting back the tears, he asked his daughter to forgive him and his wife.

In response to the alleged murder-suicide attempt, several groups said parents get burned out dealing with children who have disabilities because of a lack of government supports.

The case is similar to that of Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer who is serving the mandatory 10 years of a life sentence for gassing to death his 12-year-old daughter Tracy. Much of the Canadian public has opposed Robert Latimer's sentence, saying he "suffered" while Tracy was alive because she had mental retardation and cerebral palsy and required constant medical care.

Many disability rights advocates believe that if Tracy did not have disabilities, the public would not see her murderer as the victim.

Helene Rumak, a member of the Canadian group Disability, Life, Dignity, says that while it is true that resources are scarce, that simply does not give anyone the right to kill another person because of a disability. "If we don't punish on an equal basis, I'm not saying more, I'm not saying less, on an equal basis we give the same punishment, that's the only way to go," Rumak told the CBC.

One person who knew the Craigs said they didn't even seek the help of their community.

"Rachel, the mother, was a very private person, who in one sense needed a lot of help," said Reverend Canon Jeno Kohner, "but in another, not that she resented it, but it was very difficult for people to come and walk up and say, 'I'll look after Chelsea'."

Rachel is currently being held for psychiatric evaluation to see if she is competent to stand trial. She is due back in court on April 4.

Click here for top of this page

Mom Will Stand Trial For Murdering Daughter
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 6, 2001

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--A psychiatric evaluation has determined that Rachel Capra Craig is coherent enough to stand trial for first-degree murder in the March 20 poisoning death of her daughter.

Fourteen-year-old Chelsea Craig had Rett syndrome, a condition that has some of the same characteristics as autism, but only affects girls. Media reports indicate that Chelsea did not talk, but walked with some difficulty and attended high school.

Police claim Rachel, 46, gave her daughter a lethal mixture of drugs, and then took some of the mixture herself in a suicide attempt. James Craig arrived home in time to save his wife but not in time to save his daughter.

During a hearing on Wednesday, the judge ordered Rachel to stay in a psychiatric facility until her next scheduled court appearance on June 11.

The Montreal Gazette reported yesterday that Rachel Craig has received a lot of support from family and friends, and from other parents in the form of phone calls, emails and letters.

So far, there has been little public comment from disability rights groups.

If you are not familiar with Rett syndrome, you can learn more from the International Rett Syndrome Association website:
http://www.rettsyndrome.org

Click here for top of this page

Capra Craig Found Not Responsible For Daughter's Murder
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 20, 2002

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--A judge ruled Wednesday that a mother who killed her 14-year-old daughter was not criminally responsible for the death. But a court psychiatrist pointed to the daughter's disability as one possible reason for the mother's actions.

Rachel Capra Craig, 46, has never denied feeding her daughter Chelsea a deadly combination of medications with the intention of killing her last March 19. Rachel also took some of the mixture to kill herself, but survived.

During Wednesday's hearing, Dr. Renee Fugure, a psychiatrist testifying in Capra Craig's defense, said Rachel decided to kill her daughter because she experienced paranoid delusions and believed the girl's father, James, was sexually abusing the girl. An autopsy revealed no evidence of sexual abuse.

Dr. Jocelyn Aubut, a psychiatrist appointed by the court, said Capra Craig's problems were likely caused by the combination of a family history of mental illness, her own history of abuse and the stresses caused by Chelsea's illness.

"Even the most psychologically healthy among us would have difficulty with this," said Aubut.

The two psychiatrists made it clear they did not believe that Chelsea's death was a mercy killing like that of Tracy Latimer, who was gassed to death by her father, Robert, because she had mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Robert Latimer is serving a life sentence in Tracy's murder.

"This is not a Latimer case. This is not a mercy killing," Dr. Fugure told the court.

Shortly after the decision, Justice Fraser Martin ordered Capra Craig to be moved to a locked psychiatric unit for an unspecified period of time.

Click here for top of this page

---

Murderer Mom Kills Self After Leaving Psychiatric Institution
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
July 8, 2002

MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- The mother who killed her 14-year-old daughter with a "poison cocktail" last year has taken her own life.

It was the third time Rachel Capra Craig is known to have tried committing suicide.

On March 19, 2001 Rachel gave her daughter, Chelsea, a deadly mixture of drugs, and then drank some of the mixture herself. Chelsea died in the family's home, but her mother survived to face charges of first-degree murder.

Rachel said she decided to kill her daughter because she experienced paranoid delusions and believed Chelsea's father was sexually abusing the girl. An autopsy revealed no evidence of sexual abuse.

A few weeks after Chelsea's death, a psychiatrist found Rachel coherent enough to stand trial but a judge ordered her to stay in a psychiatric facility until her court date.

In February of this year, a judge ruled that Rachel was not responsible for her daughter's death after psychiatrists said her problems were likely caused by a combination of a family history of mental illness, her own history of abuse and the stress caused by Chelsea's disability. "Even the most psychologically healthy among us would have difficulty with this," said psychiatrist Dr. Renee Fugure.

The psychiatrists made it clear they did not believe that Chelsea's death was a mercy killing like that of Tracy Latimer, who was gassed to death by her father, Robert, because she had mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Robert Latimer is serving a life sentence in Tracy's murder.

"This is not a Latimer case. This is not a mercy killing," Dr. Fugure told the court.

During her first unsupervised weekend out of the facility last month, Rachel called 911 after she tried committing suicide again.

Even though hospital officials knew of her attempt, she was allowed a second unsupervised outing on the weekend of June 22. Her body was found at the address she had given to hospital staff.

"I don't know what might have gone wrong," said her husband James Craig. "I knew how desperately unhappy she was being confined to an institution. I hoped that being given her liberty would make her happier and therefore she'd be less in danger."

"I just wish they'd be given more opportunity for a reasonable life while they're in these locked wards or institutions and that they be given more aggressive care when they seem to need it."

More details are available from the Canadian Press Online:
http://www.recorder.ca/cp/national/020626/n062663A.html

Click here for top of this page

You can have the latest disability rights news delivered to your email Inbox every week day.
Subscribe to Inclusion Daily Express today!

Get your news here!