CA mother pleaded guilty to drowning her 4-year-old autistic son in a tub

Young_Chitlin · December 2012

Mother admits she drowned autistic son, 4, in bathtub because 'she was sick of taking care of him' and was $70,000 in debt after paying for his care

By HAYLEY PETERSON

A mother pleaded guilty to drowning her 4-year-old autistic son in a tub because she was too overwhelmed by the task of taking care of him. Thirty-seven-year-old Patricia Corby of San Diego wrapped her son, Daniel, in a blanket after drowning him and put him in the back seat of her SUV, then drove to a police station.

She flagged down an officer and told him she had just killed her son. The officer then spotted the body in the blanket in the back seat of her car. The child was wet and water was foaming around his mouth. He was not breathing and medics were unable to save him. She was later arrested and charged with murder and assault on a child.

According to prosecutor Walter Escobar, Daniel's autism was the reason his mother killed him. She cared for him at the condominium she shared with the boy's father, Duane Corby, who had testified that the couple was $70,000 in debt because of the treatment they got for their son. The husband, an accountant, was at work at the time of the killing.

Both Duane Corby and Daniel's teacher said that the boy was making progress. 'I saw real cognitive gains,' Duane Corby said in San Diego Superior Court in September, according to UTSanDiego.com.

He said the family had moved to a new school district so their son could attend classes that best suited his needs and that Daniel was showing signs of improvement. He had begun to use complete sentences and could identify all the letters in the alphabet.

'I was more than willing to put everything I had into [Daniel's car],' he said. But his wife wasn't satisfied with his progress, he said, adding, 'She always wanted more.' Patricia Corby felt overwhelmed and like she had no time to herself, Escobar said.

'She felt like her whole existence was dedicated to her child,' Escobar argued. 'She felt like she had no life. She wanted Daniel to be normal.' The mother said she tried to drown herself after killing her son last March but failed.

When authorities searched the couple's condominium, about six inches of water remained in the bathtub. Duane Corby testified that he saw no signs that his wife suffered from any mental disease before killing their son. He said officers came to his workplace around 1:45 p.m. on March 31, the day of the incident.

'They said my wife had killed my son,' he testified, adding that he was 'stunned' upon hearing the news. 'It seemed to me to be too unbelievable when it happened,' he said. 'I was honestly stunned for a long time.'

San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth set Patricia Corby’s bail at $10 million in April, citing the seriousness of the charges and her ties to Mexico, which made her a potential flight risk. When arguing for the high bail, the prosecutor said Duane Corby had expressed concern about whether his wife would flee if she was released. Patricia Corby is a Mexican citizen but is married to Duane, an American, and has lived in the U.S. for more than 11 years.

Corby sobbed uncontrollably as she admitted to killing her son before a judge on Thursday. The judge said that her emotional state made him uncomfortable going forward with the hearing, but he accepted her guilty plea anyway.

Her husband was in the courtroom at the time of the hearing. The judge did not allow cameras in the courtroom.

Corby faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison when sentenced January 28 in San Diego County Superior Court for the drowning last March.

A neighbor of the couple told NBC San Diego that she recalled seeing the boy and his father playing at a nearby playground and that the boy 'always seemed happy.'