Update: More on MN Susan Smith-style Killing
Maggie
Woman charged in death of daughter, injury to another in Long Prairie lake
Richard Meryhew / Star Tribune
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. -- A 28-year-old Long Prairie woman who suffers from
depression and emotional problems was charged Tuesday with killing one of her
daughters and critically injuring another after driving her car into a lake
with the girls inside.
Lisa J. Patchen, who stopped taking anti-psychotic medication in August and had
talked in recent weeks of killing herself, was charged in Todd County District
Court with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder after
driving her car into Lake Latimer on Sunday morning.
Allysha Johnson, 7
Patchen's daughters -- Amber Johnson, 6, and Allysha Johnson, 7 -- were found
unconscious and floating in the water after a couple came across a shivering
and wet Patchen near the lake's public launch site.
Amber was pronounced dead at a local hospital; Allysha was in critical
condition Tuesday night at Children's Hospital of Minneapolis. Authorities said
that she is on life support.
"This is new to our county," Sheriff David Kircher said Tuesday. "It's a
tragedy."
Patchen, who wasn't injured and had been hospitalized in Brainerd, was arrested
Tuesday morning and taken to the Todd County jail. She later appeared in court,
where she was charged with second-and third-degree murder and attempted murder.
District Judge Timothy Baland set bail at $500,000.
Amber Johnson, 6
Patchen will be taken today to the state hospital in St. Peter to determine
whether she is competent to stand trial.
Todd County Attorney Gaylord Saetre said Tuesday that he is still reviewing
investigative reports and has not decided whether to present the case to a
grand jury for consideration of first-degree murder charges. But Saetre said he
probably would amend the charges if Allysha Johnson dies.
Neither he nor Kircher would provide details about Patchen's emotional state or
history of problems. "I'm not about to engage in any speculation," Saetre said.
"We don't want this to get out of control."
Patchen's attorney, Timothy Churchwell, did not return a phone call Tuesday.
Patchen and Phillip Johnson, the girls' father and her live-in boyfriend, moved
to Long Prairie about 18 months ago, according to Susan Johnson, Phillip's
sister. She said neither Patchen nor Johnson is employed, although her brother
is about to start a new job in town.
Sunday and this summer
The criminal complaint filed Tuesday provided only a glimpse of what happened
Sunday. According to the document:
Patchen, distraught and crying while at the hospital afterward, told Todd
County Chief Deputy Bryan Tebben that she left home about 9 a.m. with her
daughters; Phillip Johnson was sleeping when they left. When asked how the car
got in the water, Patchen said she drove it there. When Tebben asked why, she
said "to drown."
When a rescue worker asked Patchen what happened, she said, "they were pulling
me under, so I had to do it," the complaint said.
Tebben said he didn't know the context of that comment. He said Patchen
provided little additional detail about what happened.
Authorities would not comment on how fast the car was traveling, how Patchen
and the girls got out of the car or whether the mother tried to save the girls.
Kircher said county and state investigators are examining the scene and the car
and will continue to do so for several more days.
Authorities also said little Tuesday about the scope of Patchen's apparent
depression or medical history.
An official with the Todd County Health Department, which had been involved
with helping Patchen deal with problems this summer, also declined to comment.
However, police and court records and relatives and neighbors say Patchen had
been suffering from serious depression and emotional problems for at least
several months.
According to the criminal complaint, Patchen was hospitalized in July for a
nervous breakdown. She had been taking an anti-psychotic medication called
Risperdal, which is used to treat nervous, mental and emotional conditions.
Phillip Johnson told investigators that Patchen quit taking the medication
about a month or so ago because she didn't think it was helping. He also said
she then became depressed and said she was going to kill herself.
Investigators found two prescriptions of Risperdal at Patchen's house. One was
partly used; the other was unopened.
Susan Johnson, who lives across the street from her brother and his family,
said Tuesday that she noticed Patchen seemed more distant and depressed
recently. At one time, she said, Patchen visited three or four times a week,
but she only came by two or three times in the past month.
Susan Johnson said she knew Patchen was taking medication, "but I didn't know
she was off it."
She said Patchen was "hearing voices and stuff" before the breakdown in July.
She said police found her walking streets alone in the middle of the night and
talking to herself.
"That's when we figured something was wrong," she said.
One night in July, Phillip Johnson flagged down an officer about 11:30 and told
him that he was concerned because Patchen had been acting strangely, police
reports said.
He told officers she had been talking about "evil spirits" in their home and
had been somewhat disoriented. When an officer spoke to Patchen, she asked him
about God and the apocalypse.
A second police report documented attempts by Johnson and Patchen to get help
for Patchen at the local medical center. A therapist told Patchen "she was
encountering some psychological episode and needed in-patient treatment," the
report says.
But the conversation broke down when Johnson and Patchen refused to accept the
suggestions, the report said. Police were called, and Patchen told them she
needed help. But within minutes, she grew frustrated, refused to listen and
left.
Search and sadness
Investigators returned to Lake Latimer Tuesday morning to mark the spot where
Patchen's car was found submerged 30 yards off shore in nearly 6 feet of water.
They also marked the area 300 yards away where the girls were found.
Late in the day, Darlene Peyton, who lives down the road from the boat launch,
stood on the shore and stared at investigators' fluorescent orange buoys.
Nearby, attached to the brush, was a pink bag decorated with a bow and filled
with daisies and carnations. Written on its side: "To two beautiful little
girls."
"I saw those two pictures last night on TV, and I just about broke down and
cried," Peyton said. "You think about it every time you look at the lake. Those
two girls were so helpless."
© Copyright 1999 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
Maggie
"I don't pay them for sex. I pay them to leave."--Clark Gable on why he used
prostitutes