BOSTON — Authorities say a mother from Texas is responsible for the death of her son ”“ the little boy whose lifeless body was found in the woods off Dennett Road in South Berwick ”“ and whose identity remained a mystery for five days.
Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, questioned Wednesday in Concord, Mass., faces second degree murder charges in New Hampshire in connection with the death of 6-year-old Camden Pierce Hughes.
She was scheduled to make a court appearance this morning in Massachusetts on a fugitive from justice charge. New Hampshire authorities are saying the boy died in Hampton, N.H.
Pat Lamb, director of security and spokesman for W.T. Hanes Elementary School in Irving, where young Camden was a kindergarten student, said the boy was very bright and gregarious.
“He was cute and sharp. His smile would light up the room. He was a bright star and our hope and future,” Lamb said in a telephone interview this morning.
The little boy was in the kindergarten’s gifted and talented program and loved to learn, said Lamb. Grief counselors were enroute to the school this morning to speak with staff and children, especially the 20 students in Camden’s kindergarten class.
McCrery was apprehended by police at the southbound rest stop off Interstate 495 in Chelmsford, Mass. after a driver spotted a navy blue Toyota Tacoma meeting the description of one sought by Maine police. Massachusetts Public Safety spokesman David Procopio told reporters several troopers responded and took McCrery into protective custody for questioning. She was later taken to a hospital for an evaluation. She was charged by New Hampshire authorities late Wednesday night.
Despite pleas from Maine State Police and the release by that agency of a computer-enhanced image of the boy, young Camden’s identity remained unknown from when he was found by a passerby at about 5 p.m. Saturday until Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough, who heads the southern unit of the department’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters a witness who glimpsed the vehicle on the remote dirt road thought she saw a Navy emblem on the truck. Published reports indicate the Toyota Tacoma spotted in Chelmsford had a license plate frame with “Navy mom” embossed on it. McCrery reportedly has an older son, Ian McCrery, who is in the U.S. Navy.
McDonough said the boy was clean and that his fingernails and clothing were clean. He was dressed appropriately for the weather. He was small, at about 45 pounds, but appeared well-nourished. His body was covered in a blanket described as “military green.”
“He appeared to be well cared for,” said McDonough on Tuesday.
Vigils were held in South Berwick Tuesday night, when the boy’s identity remained unknown, and again on Wednesday, after his name was revealed.
New Hampshire’s Attorney General Michael Delaney said in a prepared statement that Maine’s Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Margaret Greenwald, performed an autopsy on the boy and her preliminary findings show cause of death as asphyxiation and the manner of death as homicide. Delaney said a final determination is pending further studies.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, McCrery was convicted on a misdemeanor prostitution charge in Dallas, Texas in 2003 after pleading no contest. She was placed on probation for a year. She was convicted on a felony charge of manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance, to which she had also pleaded no contest, in 2004, and placed on probation for three years. In 2009, she was sentenced to one year in prison for a misdemeanor conviction of prostitution.
“Camden was a very bright, very articulate young man,” said John Durham, pastor of Irving First Baptist Church, where Camden attended Sunday School. In an email message to the Journal Tribune. “He had a winsome smile and personality. He will be greatly missed and we are grieving as a church in the news of his death. Our trust is in God’s deep love for little Camden, and as a church we are pressing into Christ for strength and hope.”
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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