Julianne McCrery

Case record: Julianne McCrery

Background

Julianne McCrery was a Texas woman from Irving, Texas, who was 42 years old. She had a son, Camden Hughes, who was 6 years old at the time of his death. McCrery was also described as having an older son serving in the Navy, and her oldest son, Ian McCrery, attended the sentencing.

McCrery’s mother was Lu Rae McCrery. Camden Hughes’ father was Chris Hughes. An on-again, off-again boyfriend of McCrery, Shirley Miller, described Camden as a “gifted and talented” kindergartner at W.T. Hanes Elementary School in Irving. Shirley Miller also said Camden had been baby-sat about two weeks earlier, and that he was wearing brand-new clothes that matched the clothes later seen in initial police photos.

Family members attended the sentencing, including a son on leave from the Navy.

The offence

McCrery suffocated her 6-year-old son, Camden Hughes, in a New Hampshire motel room. At her plea and later in court proceedings, she stated she covered her son’s mouth with her hand while he struggled.

Prosecutors said they had evidence McCrery felt the boy was an inconvenience and that she planned to go about her own life after killing him.

At her sentencing hearing, McCrery described remorse for causing “intense pain and suffering” to her son and said he “did nothing whatsoever to deserve death by my hand.” She said her son was “beautiful and brilliant.”

Investigation

The investigation began after the discovery of Camden’s body last May, which led to a nationwide effort to identify him. Camden’s body was found along a dirt road in Maine, and state police distributed a picture of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, altered to show how he would have looked alive.

Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough said: “It’s extremely unusual for a missing child to go unreported.”

A motorist who happened on the remote area where Camden’s body was found described a pickup truck seen with its doors open and a Navy insignia on its window. A local resident, Manly Grove, discovered the body on Dennett Road after first noticing McCrery’s truck, and later finding the body.

During the autopsy, a medical examiner for the state of Maine found “long hairs” on Camden’s jacket, tan pants, underwear, and “tangled among the twigs” near the body. DNA testing later revealed the hairs belonged to McCrery.

The autopsy also noted several injuries, including petechiae across Camden’s face, around his eyelids, and within his eyelids, which Morrell said indicated the manner of death was “some type of asphyxiation.” The cause of death was officially ruled as “mechanical asphyxiation.” Prosecutors said it included pressure outside the body that prevents breathing, and they said the autopsy revealed that McCrery was “laying on top of him while smothering him,” and that Camden “suffered and struggled for several minutes before death,” with McCrery “definitely aware of the struggle.”

McCrery told prosecutors she planned to kill herself and that she had killed her son because no one else was fit to raise him. Prosecutors said they doubted McCrery’s murder-suicide theory.

Arrest

McCrery was arrested at a Massachusetts truck stop four days after Camden’s body was discovered. She identified herself to police and said she had killed her son at a Hampton motel and left his body under a green blanket by the side of the road.

Plea and Trial proceedings

McCrery pleaded guilty in November to kneeling atop her son as he laid face-down on their motel room floor.

At the guilty plea hearing, the judge finalized the plea to one count of second-degree murder. McCrery responded “Yes, m’am” when asked if she understood her rights, the terms of her plea, and if she was “pleading guilty because [she] is in fact guilty?” She replied “Yes.”

Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell outlined details of the killing in court. Morrell said that McCrery traveled from Texas to Maine because it was the only place where she could obtain castor beans, which contain ricin, a fatal poison McCrery allegedly wanted to use to kill herself. Morrell said McCrery had tried killing herself using the beans before Camden was born.

Morrell said McCrery purchased the beans in Maine on May 12, spent May 13 at Hampton Beach with Camden, and later checked into the Stone Gable Inn with Camden. Morrell said McCrery gave Camden Nyquil because she “didn't want him to be lucid” when she smothered him in the early morning hours of May 14. Morrell said McCrery waited for Camden to fall asleep, and then “lifted her son and placed him face-down” on a pile of pillows. Morrell said McCrery then “laid on top of him, applying pressure to his body, and put her hand over his mouth.” Morrell said: “She smothered him with his face in the pillow,” and that McCrery stated to police Camden struggled by flailing his arms and kicking his legs for three to four minutes before becoming limp.

Morrell said McCrery wrapped Camden’s body in a dark green blanket and placed it in the back of her truck, choosing to do so early in the morning because she told police she didn’t “want anyone to see or hear [them] in the daylight.” Morrell said McCrery drove along Route 4, crossed into Maine, and left his body in woods on Dennett Road in South Berwick. Morrell said she believed Camden was left in an area where he wouldn’t be discovered.

McCrery was asked questions by Judge Tina Nadeau after Morrell finished presenting her evidence. The plea deal made her eligible for parole after no fewer than 45 years, and it prevented her from filing an appeal. McCrery was asked if she was seeing a doctor and if she had been diagnosed with a mental illness. McCrery told Nadeau “No” to the former question and “Not specifically, no” to the latter.

McCrery said she was on two different types of daily medication: “30 milligrams of an antidepressant/sleeping medication,” which she took at night; and “20 milligrams of an anti-anxiety medication,” administered in a 10-milligram dose in the morning and a 10-milligram dose in at bed. When asked if she believed the medication “clouded” her mind in a way that may prevent her from “making a clear judgment,” McCrery replied, “I believe they're helping me.”

McCrery’s attorneys were Julia Nye and David Bettencourt, and they declined comment. McCrery’s family also declined comment. Morrell declined to discuss details of the case outside the courtroom.

Sentencing

On January 13, 2012, McCrery stood motionless as Rockingham Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau imposed a “45-year-to-life sentence.” The sentence was described as 45 years in prison, and she was sentenced to 45 years in prison on January 12, 2012.

McCrery spoke tearfully, describing her son as “beautiful and brilliant.” She said:

“I am sorry to have caused the intense pain and suffering to my precious son Camden,” she said. “He did nothing whatsoever to deserve that by my hand, and he was not an inconvenience to me.”

During the sentencing hearing, she also said:

“I can liken what my heart is going through to what a rocket goes through upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere,”
“My sorrow is lingering and profoundly debilitating. I am very sorry to have caused intense pain and suffering to my precious son. He did nothing whatsoever to deserve death by my hand. We was never an inconvenience to me.”

McCrery said that her dosage of anxiety medication had been increased “to 50 milligrams from 30 to 45 milligrams” by prison doctors, stating:

“it makes situations harder to get upset about and to stay on a more even keel,”

She said the grief was “excruciating,” and she apologized to Hughes’ kindergarten teacher. McCrery said:

“I understand she's devastated,”

She also said she gave a brief “thank you” to the court for “listening.”

Prepared remarks were provided by McCrery’s oldest son, her mother, and Hughes’ father, Chris Hughes. Ian McCrery told his mother multiple times that “I still love you a lot,” and he said he believed her claim that she wanted to end both her life and Hughes’ life to be together in heaven. Ian McCrery said:

“I have forgiven you,”
“You were always a great mother, and you produced a great byproduct in me. I'm doing really well. I apologize you won't see the greatness to come of me throughout my life.”

Lu Rae McCrery, Julianne’s mother, said:

“We will never be whole again,”
“Life as I knew it ended on May 18, 2011, when Camden's body was identified and Juli was arrested on suspicion of his murder. I was drawn into a , and I don't know if I will ever wake up from it. "I know nothing will ever be normal again.”
and she ended by stating: “I love you, Juli.”

Chris Hughes’ remarks were described as requests for a reduced sentence, although the record provided did not include direct quoted wording for him.

Judge Tina Nadeau addressed the requests for a lighter sentence and said she could not waver from the terms of the second-degree murder plea deal. Nadeau said:

“Based on what I heard, I can't justify deviating from the request, although I understand the concern expressed here today,”

After the sentence, McCrery was escorted out of court. She was held at the Strafford County House of Corrections.

Appeals

McCrery’s plea deal prevented her from filing an appeal.

Outcome

McCrery had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 45-year-to-life sentence, described as 45 years in prison.

Aftermath

Morrell, the prosecuting attorney, said McCrery may be transported back to Strafford County before she is processed in Goffstown.

McCrery had been held without bail and had been held since her arraignment in Portsmouth District Court earlier in the year, due to Strafford having better facilities for female inmates than Rockingham County.

Grief counselors were described as being on hand to assist children and staff at Camden’s school. Shirley Miller said Camden was a sponge who loved to learn, and she described him as smart and gifted.