Mom not charged for dumping disabled daughter at bar
Lynn Cameron (Caryville Police Department)
Abandoning a child who needs help is never right, but it’s not always illegal.
A Chicago-area woman who drove to Tennessee to dump off her mentally disabled 19-year-old daughter will not be charged, police said Tuesday in The Knoxville News Sentinel.
Police in the tiny town of Caryville had tried since June 28 to figure out the identity of the young woman. A break in the case came 10 days later when a Chicago-area resident recognized the daughter on a missing persons website and alerted authorities, who contacted the mom – Eva Cameron, 45, of Algonquin, Ill.
The mom traveled back to Tennessee to speak to police, not to pick up her daughter, Lynn Cameron, who has the mental capacity of a toddler and could not identify herself or her mother.
“[The mom] said that she did not want her, that she couldn’t take care of her and that she wasn’t going to take her back to Illinois,” said Caryville police Assistant Chief Stephanie Smith in The Chicago Tribune.
“She let her out to use the bathroom and drove away,” Smith said Tuesday. “She said she just couldn’t handle her anymore.”
Cameron, who has another mentally disabled child, cannot be charged because the daughter she abandoned is legally an adult.
Cameron told The Northwest Herald in suburban Chicago that she drove her daughter to Tennessee because it has the “No. 1 health care system in the United States of America” and she wanted the best for her child. She also said her church directed her there because it is a more Baptist area.
Tuesday, the daughter became an official ward of the state of Tennessee.
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155 comments Add your comment
Heartfelt
July 11th, 2012
4:54 pm
Bless you ExNuYawker. We share your sentiments exactly. Ms. Lynn Cameron is welcome to live with our family anytime as well.
Brooke
July 11th, 2012
4:55 pm
-mel. As somebody whose been around quite a few mentally handicapped children, there is absolutely positively NO COMPARISON between somebody with the mental capacity of a 9 Year old and somebody with the mental capacity of a 2 Year old. I think a lot of people would actually find that comparison to be quite offending.
hypocrites all of you
July 11th, 2012
4:57 pm
if this woman had committed a crime you morons would be chomping at the bit to lock her up and throw away the key. if you don’t want mentally ill adults abandoned, then pony up some tax money and arrange for some social services. there are people like her in jail in every county in the country.
get off your high horse. You all can’t see past the end of your own noses. People will send a 14 year old to death row, but scream bloody murder for turning a 19 year old loose. you people make me sick. you are all like a cancer growing rampant on God’s green earth.
Caroline
July 11th, 2012
5:28 pm
I have not read all the comments, but I do wonder one thing: how many people that commented here actually are parent to a handicapped child? Do you have even any idea about how much energy and strength it takes to raise a handicapped child? Do you know anything about this mother’s situation in general, especially with her having ANOTHER mentally disabled child? Because my son is handicapped too, I love him to death, but I was on the verge of going crazy myself many many times. This woman has cared for her daughter for 19 years. Almost two decades of constant work, therapy, fear, hope for things to get better. Which probably did not happen after some point. No doubt, what this woman did is very wrong, nobody should be just dropped off somewhere, ever! And I can assure you, that woman has not had one night of good sleep since she did that. But: none of you know this woman’s background, this woman’s reason, this woman’s strength which has probably simply come to an end. So stop judging; walk in HER shoes for one week and maybe you will be able to understand what she did.
Caroline
July 11th, 2012
5:40 pm
And Gwinnett Mom: learn how to write before you go name-calling! You are the one who should be ashamed of themselves!
Willydoit?
July 11th, 2012
6:09 pm
The adult strength with the mind of a toddler!!
Imagine having to deal with that day and night for the rest of your life.
I feel sorry for both of them.
andrea
July 11th, 2012
6:26 pm
That’s crazy if she is illegally not mentally capable then she should be charged anything ciuld have happen to her. In if she wanted the best for her she could have dropped her off at one of those places. Hold people accountable for what they do.
Annie
July 11th, 2012
7:13 pm
Ignoring the pointless racist comments, I think that most people realize that it is hard to take care of a developmentally disabled adult. But, the problem and judgement comes from the mother’s actions. Nobody would want this child to be in her care, there’s no telling what type of abuse she’s doled out onto her daughter, but the right thing to do would have been too take her to a hospital, even if it’s in Tennessee, and make sure that she is taken care of. There’s no excuse for dumping her at a bar, where anything could have happened to her.
Lenor Ericson
July 11th, 2012
8:47 pm
We LEFT Tennessee because it had absolutely no funding for our severely disabled adult daughter! So I do not know where this nutty (and disgusting) “mom” is getting her information! To just drop her precious daughter off like this is untenable & unthinkable! Our adult daughter, in addition to being mentally disabled, requires total physical care as well, & we have hung in there for 24 plus years. There is no excuse in the world for what this lady has done & she should be put in jail for the rest of her miserable life!
Joe
July 12th, 2012
12:16 am
After reading this story I became LIVID with this mother. From me being a former Physical Education (helper) in the disabled class at her high school I personally know Lynn. Aside from the occasional teasing by sticking out her tongue and pointing, she was a good student. Because she tried, and if she failed, she would try again. NOT GIVE UP. And she DID NOT deserve this what so ever.