Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:
Question: Last year about this time, the big news was the Krista Madden case — the mother accused of throwing her infant daughter down a ravine. Can we get an update? Where is she now? Are charges still pending?
My answer: Call me chicken, but I am not going to go for any postpartum depression jokes here.
Real answer: This was indeed one of the biggest stories of May and June 2019, so it's worth a recap.
Madden was charged with first-degree attempted murder after her infant daughter Shaylie was found 30 feet down a steep, heavily forested ravine in rural Henderson County on May 9, 2019. Police said Madden threw the baby over the ravine's edge, though Madden described "placing" the baby on the ground in interviews with police, according to search warrants.
More: 'The Lord put that baby there for us to hear': How mountain residents found baby in ravine
Madden initially told authorities that she and her baby had been kidnapped by two strangers wearing ski masks, according to police, though that story quickly unraveled after Shaylie was found.
During the bond reduction hearing on June 26, Madden's attorney, Sean Devereux, referred to "the incident where the child was abandoned briefly in Henderson County." The judge did reduce Madden's bond from $750,000 to $100,000, which she was able to make, with the condition that she have no direct contact with her two children.
That restriction has since been eased, with Madden allowed some supervised visits with her children under the scrutiny of Buncombe County's Department of Social Work Services.
Last year, Madden was transferred in May to UNC Chapel Hill's Perinatal Psychiatry Inpatient Unit, a treatment center that specializes in mental health conditions that affect women before and after giving birth. Devereux said then he hoped to have Madden assessed for possible postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis, a severe mental health crisis that can cause otherwise stable new mothers to have delusions and even hallucinations.
Henderson County District Attorney Greg Newman said June 5 of this year that "everything is in a holding position" with Madden's case because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Madden was indicted in Superior Court, and Newman does expect a jury trial, but no date is set.
"We have absolutely no clarity from our chief justice as far as when we can resume jury trials," Newman said.
He also confirmed that Madden is allowed to see her two children, under supervision.
"We had a hearing sometime last year, and that provision was made," Newman said. "We did not object to that, because there was consent from the husband."
More: Mother accused of trying to kill 7-week-old to be transferred to psychiatric facility
Buncombe County's Social Work Services department supervises the visits and provided the structure "to make that occur, so we were comfortable with the visits, with the intervention of DSS," Newman said.
Devereux said June 4 that Madden, 36, is staying with her parents in South Asheville, while the children live with her husband, nearby. Krista Madden and her husband, Dr. Jesse Madden, also have another daughter, who is 4.
"She's still restricted to the home," Devereux said of Krista Madden. "We did get the (restrictions) amended so she can have supervised visits with her daughters, and that's been going very well. And the kids are doing well."
More: Postpartum psychosis — why loving moms sometimes hurt their babies
In 2019 on the day of the incident, the Fowler family of the Edneyville area in Henderson County found the baby, then 7 weeks old, about 7:30 p.m. The baby has bruises but was otherwise unharmed.
She was wearing a pink onesie with "I love my mommy" on the front. Cheryl Fowler said they were sitting on part of their property they rarely use when they heard faint cries, thinking at first it was the call of a wounded turkey they had seen around the property.
But as the sounds continued, "I just knew there was a baby hurtin' somewhere," Cheryl Fowler told the Citizen Times last year.
Last year, Devereux noted that Madden's behavior had come "out of the blue." Asked if Madden had shown signs of depression before the incident, Devereux said then, "Not depression so much as she'd sort of been stressed."
“She was not getting any sleep, and there were complications — the new baby just had some sort of cosmetic surgery, nothing serious, but it’s been tough," Devereux said. "She’s had her hands full."
This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com
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