Student with Asperger Syndrome Charged in Murder:
This is a piece from NPR about how much a part Asperger’s Syndrome is playing in the murder of James Alenson by Asperger’s patient John Odgren. What I found interesting about this piece is that some parents of Asperger’s kids are horrified that Odgren’s defense attorney is using Asperger’s as a defense. It’s a very good listen.
Thanks to Dr. Feste for the link.
Judge denies request for access to Odgren search warrants:
Luckily, a judge has wisely decided that the search warrants used in the investigation of Lincoln-Sudbury stabbing suspect John Odgren will not be made public.
Judge Paul Healy Jr. said in a ruling that releasing the information to the public would not be fair to the investigation or suspect John Odgren, 16, of Princeton.
“At this time, it is believed that a blanket impoundment order is necessary to protect the rights of both the defendant and the Commonwealth and that there is no reasonable alternative,” Healy wrote in the two page decision.
Thank God, this exercise in media self-righteousness was put down quickly.
School transfer of accused teen eyed:
This is an article that chronicles the school history of Lincoln-Sudbury High stabbing suspect John Odgren. According to the article, he attended 5 schools in five years, which also, according to the article, is not very conducive to an Asperger’s patient.
Psychiatrists say children with Asperger’s often struggle with school transitions, and a move to a large public school with 1,600 students would not be easy. Youngsters with Asperger’s typically have poor social skills.
“It’s difficult for these people to accept changes,” said Mohammad Ghaziuddin, a child psychiatrist at the University of Michigan and a specialist in Asperger’s. “They are used to having their own schedule, their own routines. It’s their desire for sameness.”
At this point, it’s unknown why all those transfers took place. One of the schools said that anyone who has a tendency towards violence would not be allowed to remain there. Lincoln-Sudbury schools are also saying that records provided to them were missing documents that should have contained information regarding Odgren’s past “explosive episodes”.
Was he shuffled from school to school because of his behavior? Or could it have been parental impatience? Were they possibly not satisfied with the pace he was progressing and held the schools responsible? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Judge to rule Monday on search warrants:
In arguing whether or not the search warrants used to investigate the murder of James Alenson by John Odgren should be made public, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett had the following to say…
“We’re attempting to gather evidence worldwide,” said assistant district attorney Daniel Bennett. If information about what was found when the four search warrants were executed is made public, “The information we’re seeking could be altered. It could be destroyed. The search of evidence is both worldwide and goes back 16 years.”
Even though my curiosity levels are through the roof at this point, there’s no real reason why the warrants should be made public until the investigation and trial are over.
The judge is set to decide on Monday.
Not-guilty pleas in grisly slaying:
From the “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me” Dept. comes the story that both Zarate brothers have pleaded not guilty in the murder and dismemberment of 16-year-old Jennifer Parks.
So let me get this straight. They invited Jennifer to their house, beat her and stabbed her to death, dismembered her body so that they can store the body in a trunk, stored the trunk in a Jeep for 24 hours and attended a kid’s birthday party, then got caught trying to dump her body in the Passaic River, and then they plead not guilty?
What possible defense could they have? I guess they figured since the death penalty is off the table, they’ll take their chances in the trial.
Principal: No Evidence Slain Teen Knew Attacker:
The principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, John M. Ritchie, addressed a group of parents at the school auditorium Thursday night. He stated that there was no pre-existing relationship between accused killer John Odgren and his victim James Alenson. So all of those claiming bullying as Odgren’s motive can stick that in your crack pipes.
Now it says the stabbing started as an altercation. How do we know that John Odgren didn’t start that altercation? If he’s going to claim that Asperger’s caused him to kill James Alenson the prosecution can also claim that it caused him to kill James Alenson unprovoked.
An insanity plea can work both ways.
I had asked another blogging doctor about Asperger’s as a murder defense in the case of John Odgren. I e-mailed Dr. Feste of Illyria and this is what he had to say. Again, nothing has been edited…
One would think that a 16-year-old with such a diagnosis would not be allowed to have a knife collection; obviously parents have poor insight into the problem…. oftentimes the parents have just as many issues. If I were the supreme authority on truth, justice and all things imperial (I should be provided with such responsibilities), I would not incarcerate the individual, since the explosive outbursts are a consequence of his disease, but I would not let him roam free, especially with such parents….. it seems a good chunk of modern society is incapable of reasonable parenting, and thus the murderous 16-year-old should be under constant supervision and a controlled environment until there is proof that he will not repeat his offense. Parents need a good whack in the head, though.
Slain teenager recalled as good student who avoided trouble:
Easy-going with a shy smile, James Alenson was a good student with a dry sense of humor who got along well with peers, recalled former classmates and his former speech team coach at Wilson Middle School in Natick.
“I cannot imagine him getting into a confrontation with anybody,” said Deanie Goodman, who coached the boy for two years on Wilson Middle’s speech team. “He was a really sweet kid, somewhat shy, a little bit quiet, and really easy-going. I could not believe this would happen to a kid like that.”
Alenson was not a master orator and had joined the speech team at his parents’ urging. But he was a good sport about going to weekly practices after school and cheered his younger sister, a team member and a great speaker, Goodman said.
Former classmates said that Alenson, tall and lanky with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, kept to himself and never caused trouble. But he would not allow classmates to pick on him, often retorting back when teased, students said. They do not recall him getting into physical fights.
“When people would make fun of him, he wouldn’t let it go,” said Cassie Kosky, 15, a freshman at Natick High School who had gone to school with Alenson before he moved. “He wouldn’t flip out, but would come up with a remark.”
Former Natick classmates said Alenson was typically an A student at the middle school. Antone Wilson, 15 and a Natick High freshman, said that whenever he would ask Alenson for the answers to a test, Alenson would say no.
Wilson emphasized that while quiet, Alenson was no pushover.
“He wouldn’t let people bully him around,” Wilson said.
Jeff Scannell, 15, has known Alenson since the boys were about 9 years old and they attended the same speech therapy class. In eighth grade last year, they were in the same math and English honors classes. Alenson liked to spend his time reading and writing and rarely interrupted class, Scannell said.
“He was a nice kid to be around,” said Scannell, a Natick High freshman. “He wouldn’t say one bad thing about another student. He was easy to talk to.”
Lynn Rome, whose son attended the eighth grade with Alenson, said her son and his friend described Alenson as an “extremely bright, studious, and very friendly boy.”
Samantha Abrams, 18, a senior from Sudbury said she was a “peer connector” for freshmen, including Alenson. “He was really quiet and shy,” Abrams said. “He was just an innocent little kid and he didn’t deserve anything like this.”
Parents honor “sweet” James “We will carry him in our hearts forever”
The parents of slain “sweet, funny, kind” student James Alenson broke their silence yesterday saying that they are devastated by the loss of their 15-year-old boy, who was stabbed to death at his suburban school.
“He was always embarrassed by the adjectives we had to use to describe him; sweet, funny, kind, considerate, gentle. An innocent. Always the first to offer help, incapable of telling a lie, he was a genuinely good person in a world that under appreciates how much joy that brings to the people around them,†the statement said.
Alenson worked part time for a community organic farm in Natick and spent his summers at a camp in New Hampshire, where he was hoping to become a counselor, according to the family.
Alenson’s family, including his two siblings, moved from Natick to Sudbury last year so Alenson could be in a safer and better school, family members have said. Lincoln-Sudbury classmates said he hadn’t made many close friends yet, but he was universally described as a sweet and quiet straight-A student.
Those of you who are trying to make James Alenson out to be some kind of aggressor or tormentor, in this case, should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that James Alenson was not a good kid. One of the things about this website is that if I defend or berate someone on this site, I usually hear from their friends or family within a few days telling me how wrong I am. I have yet to hear from anyone that knew James Alenson to tell me otherwise.
On the other hand…
State report describes teen’s early aggression:
In seventh grade, John Odgren had several explosive episodes, was verbally abusive, and at times became physically aggressive, his parents, specialists, and teachers said, according to a state hearing report.
His parents had argued to the state agency that their son needed better services than he had received from the Wachusett Regional School District, which had placed him in an alternative school in Fitchburg. At that school, he was so miserable he came home and “often spent evenings wrapped in a blanket, crying,” one of his parents testified.
The state agreed that the placement was not appropriate and ordered Wachusett to pay for Odgren’s attendance at a smaller program in Belmont that his parents had found.
The report, giving an overall description, said that Odgren became aggressive at times when confused or ordered to do work, but did not offer details other than to say he was suspended three times for physical aggression within a two-month period at Caldwell Alternative School in Fitchburg. His parents, at the same time, were expressing concern for his physical and emotional safety at Caldwell, whose principal declined to comment.
The report made one mention of him having “explosive episodes” in fall 2002 in Wachusett’s special education program, but did not detail those. Wachusett school officials declined to comment about Odgren, citing student confidentiality.
Odgren, according to the state report, was diagnosed with depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in 2000 and later placed in a special education program at a Wachusett elementary school. In 2002, in the sixth grade, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s. His parents complained that he needed training in social skills, according to the state report, but never received it.
Shortly after beginning seventh grade in a Wachusett school, his performance deteriorated, according to the report, and the school system placed him at Caldwell Alternative School in Fitchburg for students in grades 7 to 12. The school serves students with emotional and behavioral problems and learning disabilities.
But he floundered at Caldwell, where the other students “teased, used foul and aggressive language, and were rude and disrespectful to each other and to the teacher,” according to the report. Odgren’s behavior grew more troubling, resulting in the suspensions and his failing three subjects.
In March 2003, his parents took him out of Caldwell and placed him at Pathways Academy in a special education program at McLean Hospital in Belmont for students ages 12 and 13. There, his behavior dramatically improved, the report stated.
Odgren told his parents the program was “like heaven.” His father testified that after about six weeks at Pathways, Odgren “demonstrated spontaneous empathy for the first time.”
It is unknown whether Odgren went directly from Pathways to Lincoln-Sudbury and whether school officials were made aware of the state report that described a history of physical aggression. Beginning this school year, he was a sophomore at Lincoln-Sudbury enrolled in Great Opportunities, a program for students with significant emotional and/or psychiatric disabilities. Lincoln-Sudbury officials have said they had no knowledge of any violent behavior involving Odgren.
According to the state’s report, Odgren needed to be in an educational environment where he would not be threatened and would “be free from peers who tease, bully, or have behaviorally based disorders.”
In the days after the stabbing, Lincoln-Sudbury students told reporters that Odgren had been teased by schoolmates for wearing a trench coat in the halls like the killers in Columbine High School. Police have not said why Odgren allegedly stabbed Alenson, who was described as shy and sweet, in a boy’s bathroom.
Odgren’s mother , Dorothy, a nurse at a Worcester clinic, is a fierce advocate for her son, said Kathryn Mattison, a Princeton child and family therapist. Dorothy Odgren is a fixture at area conferences on Asperger’s, she said, adding that she met Dorothy Odgren when she was a school nurse at Princeton’s Thomas Prince Elementary School, which Mattison’s children attended.
He was known to have “explosive episodes” yet his parents allowed him to have an extensive knife collection? What the hell were they thinking? And why should it be the state’s responsibility to make sure that he gets training in social skills? If they were so worried about him being in a school where the students teased, used foul and aggressive language, and were rude and disrespectful to each other and to the teacher, then they could have homeschooled him. Because as far as I’m concerned, that sounds like every school in the world.
If your child has a learning disability, it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure he gets help. Not the state’s and not the schools’ but the parents’.
And for those of you who either have or know someone with Asperger’s and are saying “oh poor John Odgren”, stop using your disability as a crutch. Stop acting like a damn victim. So God dealt you a bad hand. Suck it up. There are a lot of people worse off than you, and there are a lot more people who don’t constantly whine about having Asperger’s.
John Odgren is a danger to society, pure and simple and needs to be put away for a long time. Don’t like what I have to say? No one is making you stay here.
With all the talk about Asperger’s Syndrome on this site lately because of the Lincoln-Sudbury High stabbing, I decided to get a professional opinion. Over the weekend, I e-mailed Dr. Scott from Polite Dissent and asked him his opinion about Asperger’s being used as a murder defense. This was his reply. Nothing has been edited.
There’s no easy answer. Some people with Asperger’s are all but autistic, others are fully functional, most fall somewhere in between. A person who attends high school, admits to the deed, and apologizes strikes me as someone who is pretty functional, and knows right from wrong.
That being said, impulse control problems are common in people with Asperger’s. May seem to lack the ‘maybe this isn’t the right thing to do’ switch between anger and action.
As an aside, whenever I hear that someone has Asperger’s — be they a patient of mine, or someone on the news, I wonder where they received their diagnosis. About half the people seem to be self-diagnosed (or ‘mother diagnosed’) because they think it fits, and it ‘sounds right’ and they now have an excuse for some of their choices (it wasn’t me, it was the Asperger’s). I never trust these diagnoses. Asperger’s is a poorly defined condition that is difficult to diagnose; it takes hours of psychological testing and interviewing for a correct diagnose; it takes a specialist. Without one of those doing the diagnosing, I don’t believe the diagnosis.
If you have an opinion about this, post it in the comments here. Don’t harass Dr. Scott at his site. He was merely doing me a favor.
Accused killer boasted of vast knife collection:
John Odgren, the suspect in the Lincoln-Sudbury High School stabbing, had previously bragged about his rather extensive knife collection…
John Odgren is a private kid who spent hours exploring the vast woods around his secluded Princeton home, neighbors said, sometimes carrying a machete.
One neighbor said the quiet teen appeared menacing as he stalked along the winding country road with a machete in hand whacking at brush. “He just acted odd,” said the neighbor. “He’d sit in the woods all day. He spent all last summer walking in the woods.”
But another said Odgren seemed like a typical country boy who enjoyed the outdoors: “He didn’t seem like a punk. He didn’t seem like he was too big for his britches. He seemed like a nice kid.”
A student at Sudbury named Julia, who is making a crime film, said Odgren was fascinated by crime. “He said if we needed any props for the movie he had knives,” she said.
For the sake of argument, let’s just say that his Asperger’s is what caused him to kill James Alenson. Then if his parents knew he had a predisposition to fly off the handle, why did they allow him to have a knife collection? Why would you let any 16-year-old have a knife collection, including a machete, anyway?
The article said he was picked on too. I don’t care. I bet James Alenson was picked on too. He was a quiet kid who played the clarinet. You’re going to tell me that no one picked on him?
There’s only one victim here, and his name is James Alenson.