Prosecutors: Woman blamed devil for child's overdose

It was too late to save 2-year-old Joseph Balkcom by the time paramedics were called to the Naperville hotel where he overdosed on children's cold medicine.

But prosecutors say the Chicago woman accused of giving him the fatal dose held up emergency care, instead convincing his mother the “devil was in her child” and that he needed prayer.

As Joseph lay on a bed dying, prosecutors say, the women retrieved olive oil and prayed over the boy until Theresa Gary finally told Joseph's mother her suspicion he was dead.

“She knew she gave him too much (children's) Benadryl and that the Benadryl caused his death,” Assistant State's Attorney Ann Celine O'Hallaren said in opening statements Wednesday.

Gary, 41, is on trial in DuPage County, charged with reckless conduct in Joseph's overdose death on Nov. 5, 2008. A jury of nine women and five men, including two alternates, is hearing the case.

O'Hallaren described Gary as a friend of Joseph's mother's who helped provide food and shelter at times to the homeless mother and son.

After the boy came down with a bad cold, O'Hallaren said, Gary rented Joseph and his mother a room at the Best Western at 1617 Naperville-Wheaton Road where the toddler could recuperate.

But the situation only worsened as Gary fed Joseph three-fourths of a bottle of children's Benadryl over four hours, prosecutors said, while the child's mother took a bus to a homeless shelter for diapers.

O'Hallaren said the mother returned to find the boy vomiting. After the three settled down for the night, she said, Gary woke up Joseph's mother claiming the devil was in her child and that they should call their pastor. Although the pastor told the women to call 911, O'Hallaren said, Gary went out for olive oil that the two used to pray for the boy. Paramedics were called shortly after 10 p.m.

Prosecutors said an autopsy later determined the boy had swallowed “10 to 100 times the therapeutic amount for an adult.”

“Had (Gary) read the directions on the bottle, she would have learned children's Benadryl should not be administered to a child under the age of 6 without a physician's advice,” O'Hallaren said. “Her actions were reckless and they caused the death of Joseph Balkcom.”

Defense attorney Mark Lyon, a senior DuPage County public defender, said there was no evidence his client gave the boy an overdose.

Lyon said Gary gave the boy a capful of Benadryl because the boy's mother said she had given it to him on a doctor's advice before. When the boy spat it out, he said, she gave him a second capful.

“It may be possible little Joseph took the Benadryl on his own,” Lyon said.

Lyon argued the child was probably already dead when his client awakened the mother and began with the prayer rituals.

“It was too late by then, and they probably didn't want to believe that,” Lyon said. “Neither one of them took the best response.”

The trial resumes Friday.