A western Pennsylvania woman accused of drowning two of her sons in a bathtub was ordered Monday to a state mental hospital after a jail psychiatrist told a judge the defendant is mentally incompetent.
Dr. Christine Martone testified that Laurel Michelle Schlemmer is psychotic and suicidal and has a major depressive disorder. Schlemmer should be treated at Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, before her condition is reviewed to determine if she can stand trial in the future, Martone said.
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Among other things, Schlemmer told police she heard "crazy voices" telling her to submerge the boys and she believed she could be a better mother to her oldest son and that the younger boys would be "better off in heaven," according to a police complaint.
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The Pennsylvania Department of Welfare is reviewing the drownings and the family's contact with Allegheny County's Office of Children, Youth and Families. The county agency first contacted the family last year, after Schlemmer backed her van into the same two boys, according to police and her pastor. The county office determined that was an accident after consulting with doctors and the police, according to DPW spokeswoman Kait Gillis.
Laurel Schlemmer, Mother Accused Of Drowning Sons, Found Mentally Incompetent
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