'Sinister evidence' keeps emerging in child abuse case

More bizarre news keeps emerging in the story of Laurie Williamson, a Houston woman accused of keeping her children sick to get attention for herself. Prosecutors say Williamson, a former nurse, used her medical knowledge to convince doctors that her three kids suffered from a variety of ailments including Tourette syndrome, Crohn's disease and epilepsy — which led to unnecessary medications and surgeries for the children. Psychiatric experts say it looks like a classic case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a type of abuse in which a caregiver fakes illness in a person under his or her case in order to get attention or sympathy for him- or herself. Munchausen by Proxy isn't common, but it can be devastating.

The Chronicle reports today that investigators think Williamson, 39, began abusing her children years ago. Her medical background would have helped her fabricate symptoms and convince doctors she was telling the truth, they say; officials also allege that Williamson told her kids that they were suffering from a rare disease and probably wouldn't live past their teens. When Child Protective Services took custody of the children — aged 12, 9 and 7 — last year, they were in bad shape, but since then they've bounced back and become the normal, healthy kids they really are. “When they came into our custody they were in wheelchairs. They were on liquid diets and they were being tube fed. They were on lots of medication, and now we are happy to say that since they have been in our care, all these ailments that they allegedly had are gone,” Estella Olguin of CPS told Channel 11.

Over the years, prosecutors say Williamson had two unnecessary surgeries performed on her oldest son and two more on her daughter. Assistant Harris County DA Mike Trent said the kids also show signs of more traditional child abuse, including head injuries and healed broken bones. There's also an episode when the son's arsenic level spiked while he was in the hospital, which could indicate an even darker side to the story: "There's quite a bit of sinister evidence that something was going on," Trent said.

Williamson appeared in court Monday morning in a wheelchair because she claims to be paralyzed, which Trent said he believes isn't true. State District Judge Jan Krocker ordered her to have no contact with any children, including her own, and reduced Williamson's bail to $105,000 from $145,000. So far, no media outlets have been able to reach Diana Olvera, Williamson's court-appointed defense attorney.