Suburban Mother Who Killed Her Autistic Son In 2013 Will Be Released From Jail
(CBS) -- A 53-year-old woman from River Grove who has admitted killing her autistic son in 2013 is expected to go free from prison as early as next week.
For nearly four years, Dorothy Spourdalakis has been in jail after drugging her 14-year-old severely autistic son and then stabbing him to death.
She then tried to take her own life.
She had been charged with first-degree murder.
Now, she's pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. With time-served, she is expected to be freed next week.
Her attorney, Michael Botti, says this was an emotional day in Cook County Circuit Court Thursday.
"Listening to the prosecutor go through 13 years of Alex's life and how every door was closed. And the abuse he dealt with when he was taken to the hospital and all the restraints he was put in," he says.
Botti says Dorothy Spourdalakis killed her son out of love.
He says she devoted her life to caring for her son and when that wasn't enough, she decided to take his life and then her own.