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Kristen LaBrie Charged in Son's Death
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 4:01AM 
Kristen LaBrie, 37, was arrested by Salem Police Sunday night (7/5/09) after a grand jury indicted her on charges of: (1) Attempted murder, (2) Permitting serious bodily injury to a disabled person, (3) Permitting substantial bodily injury to a child and (4) Child endangerment in the death of her 9-year-old son Jeremy Fraser.
Kristen LaBrie appeared in Essex Superior Court in Salem Monday, where she pleaded not guilty to the four charges. She is being held in Framingham Prison on $15,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 27 for a pre-trial conference. If found guilty on all charges she is facing up to 40 years in state prison.
In October 2006 Jeremy, who is autistic, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The boy was given large doses of chemotherapy in the hospital and his cancer went into remission. The doctors gave him a 85% to 90% chance of survival.
His mother was given prescriptions for medications he was to be given at home. She repeatedly failed to pick up prescriptions, but led doctors to believe they were being filled. She repeatedly postponed chemotherapy appointments and failed to administer home doses of chemotherapy. As a result, the boy developed leukemia. He died in March 2009.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett’s office alleged in court papers that LaBrie failed to act between October 2006, when Jeremy was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and March 2008, when Massachusetts General Hospital reported her inaction to authorities.
Defense attorney Kevin James said in court that his client was a victim because the boy’s father, Eric J. Fraser, 36, abandoned his son and left LaBrie to shoulder the burden of care. He said LaBrie was a single mother with "severe financial problems" who bore the burden of taking care of her son.
“She is the victim,’’ James said. “She is the mother who took care of her child.’’
The boy’s father, Eric Fraser, was divorced from LaBrie. He and LaBrie shared custody of the boy until about a year ago, when she was given full custody. The alleged medication withholding took place while the boy was mostly in LaBrie’s care.
Eric Fraser took care of his son in his last months of life. He was in court Monday, confident in the district attorney's case.
"She did what she did, and she knows what she did," he said. "She can say what she wants to say, but they did their investigation and we're here."
Prosecutors say LaBrie was Jeremy's sole caretaker until February of 2008 when custody was given to his father after the cancer came back. After gaining custody of his son, he put him in hospice care, where he died in March.
"The cancer that came back was chemo-resistant and the cancer that came back was virtually untreatable," Assistant Essex County District Attorney Kate MacDougall told the court.
Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said in court that Labrie failed for months to provide necessary medication to her son, missed doctor appointments, and never sought help from the MGH staff. She did not reach out to the hospital team caring for her son, which included a social worker, nurse, and oncologist, MacDougall said.
“It’s a battle,’’ Fraser said of life without his son. “Every day is different, but I get through them. I get through the days.’’
Fraser’s attorney, Bradford Keene, told reporters Fraser could not discuss his former wife’s actions until the criminal case ends.
