Five-year-old Garnett Spears died suspiciously in January from acute sodium poisoning, reports the Daily Mail. Lacey built a following blogging about her son's illness for many years, dubbing her son "Garnett the Great".
A source close to the investigation told Fox News, "It's evident by the nature of what was found in his body that somebody, in effect, poisoned him.”
"He died at the hands of somebody else,” said the source.
The Chestnut Ridge boy died at Westchester Medical Centre in January. His mother had rushed him to the emergency room after Garnett suffered abdominal pains from what appeared to be a stomach virus.
The boy died four-days later from a dangerously high amount of sodium in his system, reports the Daily Mail.
Hospital officials reported the suspicious circumstances to the police, who opened an investigation against the mother before the death of her son. They removed food and computer equipment from the house during the investigation. They have also questioned Lacey Spears' friends and family and obtained Garnett's past medical records after discovering that he had been hospitalized 23-times during his short life.
A neighbour told USA Today that while Garnett was in hospital, Spears phoned and asked her to dispose of one of the boys feeding tubes. The neighbour originally complied with the request, before finding out that police were investigating the case. She handed over the tube to authorities instead.
Now some are now questioning whether the child needed the feeding tubes in the first place. Spears had reportedly told friends that Garnett needed to be tube-fed because he would go days without eating, said The Journal News.
"But those same friends saw him [Garnett] routinely eat solid foods," said the website.
Since her son’s death, Lacey has been staying with family in Kentucky.
Lacey’s attorney, David Sachs said his client had nothing to do with Garnett's death.
Sachs told Fox News, “'Lacey is completely devastated by the loss of her son and absolutely denies harming her son in any way.”
The Florida Department of Children and Families revealed in April that they've had a file on Spears since 2011, following an anonymous tip-off concerning the boy's welfare.
USA today said, "Spears has portrayed herself on social media as a doting mother struggling to care for a son who'd been in and out of hospitals his entire life."
Days before taking Garnett to Nyack Hospital, Spears reported on Facebook that he had the flu. Her last post to Facebook was on April 18. Spears put up a photo of her son holding a toy with the comment, "I want to carry on his legacy & the only way I can right now is to write about him & share his pictures."
Questions have been raised about whether Spears may suffer from Munchausen syndrome, a psychiatric disorder in which a parent harms a child to seek attention and sympathy.
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