Mother-in-law: McCarron wished daughter dead

PEKIN -- A former pathologist accused of suffocating her 3-year-old autistic daughter with a garbage bag often wished the girl was dead and said she'd rather have a child with cancer than autism, her mother-in-law testified Wednesday.

"She said at least three to five times that I can recall, 'I really wish Katie were dead,'" Gail McCarron said during the third day of testimony in Karen McCarron's murder trial in Tazewell County Circuit Court, the (Peoria) Journal Star reported.

McCarron, 39, of Morton, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder, a count of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death in the 2006 death of her daughter, Katie.

McCarron, who has been free on bond since 2006, has been found mentally fit to stand trial. But a medical expert hired by her attorneys has said McCarron was insane at the time of the killing.

Gail McCarron said her daughter-in-law was very critical of the progress Katie made while at a special school for autistic children, . Karen McCarron had asked her opinion about putting Katie in an institution, she said.

"Karen once said to me, 'If Katie had cancer, I could deal with it. But I'll never accept autism,'" Gail McCarron said.

Also Wednesday, Illinois State Police crime lab technician Ann Midden testified that she discovered DNA on a white trash bag found in a gas station restroom near the McCarrons' home after noticing possible teeth marks on the inside of the bag, the Pekin Daily Times reported.

Lab forensic scientist Debra Minton said she matched the DNA with a sample from Katie's body. And crime lab technician Robert Renea said he retrieved a palm print on the outside of the bag that matched Karen McCarron.

Katie's aunt, Jennifer McCarron, testified Wednesday that Karen McCarron was obsessed with curing the autism and would not accept her daughter's condition.

"It was embarrassing for her," she said. "She said she didn't want anyone saying her kid was slow. ... She looked at Katie as a problem and she got rid of her problem. There's nothing more to it than that."