Mommy Blogger Accused of Throwing Autistic Son Off Bridge
Yesterday evening, 34-year-old mother Jillian McCabe called the Newport, Oregon, police, alleging that she'd thrown her six-year-old son off the Yaquina Bay Bridge. Later that night, authorities found a body they believe to be the boy's floating near a marina.
After turning herself in, McCabe was arrested for aggravated murder, murder, and first degree manslaughter in the death of London McCabe, her son, NBC reports. London was reportedly autistic, and earlier this year, Jillian McCabe launched a crowdfunding campaign, writing that her husband and London's father had been diagnosed with MS and a mass in his brain stem, leaving him unable to work:
I am taking care of our son London and now Matt full-time. Luckily, we are receiving unemployment from when Matt was laid off. I am applying for any and all assistance available. The real blow for us was that we were denied charity services from Providence Hospital because they know our situation is so dire, we will receive state assistance. SSI can take months to go through and I am scared.
...
I love my husband and he has taken care of myself and my son for years and years and now it's time for me to take the helm. I am scared and I am reaching out. I hope I am not coming across trashy or over-reactionary. I must explore every avenue to take care of my family right now.
Andrew McCabe, London's uncle, confirmed the veracity of the crowdfunding campaign and other social media pages to NBC.
The McCabes also ran "Autistic London," a blog about their experience raising their son, which has since been pulled down. In an archived post from April 2012, Jillian's husband describes the "ups and downs" of raising a child with autism, and in another from the same month, Jillian lists the things that get her through the day, stopping her "from pulling a Thelma & Louise."
A video posted last month shows the McCabes celebrating London's sixth birthday.
On his own blog, Matt McCabe, London's father, wrote about his family life and recovering from MS. In May, NBC notes, he wrote that he and Jillian were living apart, but a post last month seems to show that things were getting better:
I am still living with my folks out here in Newport. I wrote before that we were moving out to The Dalles, but that didn't happen. I started running the numbers and we totally could—if our rent was only $500. That's not gonna happen. So I'm saving up money and we'll see what happens.
Jillian is living with us, too. London is pleased as punch. He lays on our laps and puts our hands together. Last night he made the "mmmwha!" sound and gave his Mommy a kiss. Then he made the same sound and pushed our faces together. He's all smiles.
Jillian McCabe is currently being held on $750,000 bail.
Update, 11/05/14, 12:43 p.m.: McCabe's family told NBC News that the mother had become "overwhelmed" caring for her autistic son and husband with MS. The family also said McCabe had suffered "a mental collapse." The mother apparently confessed in a YouTube video that she's considered "pulling a Thelma and Louise," or ostensibly, driving herself off a cliff.
[Photo via Newport Police]