A woman who admitted to drowning her three children in a bathtub five years ago has given birth to another child. She became pregnant with her fourth child in a supposed secure upstate psychiatric hospital.
In 2008, Leatrice Brewer, 33, of New Cassel was found not guilty because of mental disease. Since then she has been held in Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in New Hampton. The father of two of the three children Brewer killed has been contacted by a lawyer to find an appropriate placement for her newborn.
It is unknown who the father to her newborn fourth child is. The State Office of Mental Health will not release the name due to privacy laws. Attorney Tom Foley, the representative of Innocent Demeyseux, the father of two of her children, says it is outrageous that she was able to have a baby while incarcerated in what was allegedly a secure facility.
"This person's supposedly in a secure facility and she gets pregnant,” Foley said in an interview with NBC News. “This is the woman who had no idea what she was doing when she murdered her children."
Brewer is currently attempting to collect a $350,000 wrongful death settlement from Demeyseux. Being she was not found responsible for the children’s deaths, lawyers say she is able to claim some or all of the money. Nassau Surrogates Court Judge Edward McCarty will not only decide Brewer’s fate, he will also make a similar ruling about the children’s fathers. If he finds out the two fathers abandoned their children then they will also receive no money.
Even if she does end up winning though, Brewer won’t be seeing any of the settlement. There is a $1.2 million lien against her for psychiatric counseling and other services she received following her arrest. The courts may consider awarding the money to Brewer’s new child as her heir.
[Source: NBC]