Watch CBS News

Texas Mom 'Sorry' For Inflicting 'Intense Pain And Suffering' In Son's NH Murder

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (CBS/AP) — A Texas woman was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison for suffocating her 6-year-old son in a New Hampshire motel room and leaving his body along a dirt road in Maine.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports

Podcast

Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, told prosecutors she had planned to kill herself and that she killed her son, Camden Hughes, because no one else was fit to raise him.

WBZ-TV's Jim Smith reports

But prosecutors say they have evidence McCrery felt the boy was an inconvenience, and that she planned to go about her own life after killing him.

Camden Pierce Hughes
Camden Pierce Hughes (photo courtesy: Facebook)

McCrery spoke tearfully at her sentencing hearing, calling her son beautiful and brilliant.

"I am sorry to have caused the intense pain and suffering to my precious son Camden," she said.

"He did nothing whatsoever to deserve that by my hand, and he was not an inconvenience to me."

McCrery pleaded guilty in November to kneeling atop her son as he laid face-down on their motel room floor. She told investigators she covered his mouth with her hand as he struggled to survive.

On Friday, she said it has taken a while for her grief to fully unfold, but now it is "excruciating."

The discovery of Camden's body last May set off a nationwide effort to identify him. Meanwhile, McCrery called his elementary school in Texas daily to report him absent with appendicitis.

McCrery was arrested at a Massachusetts truck stop four days after Camden's body was discovered.

A motorist who happened by the remote area where Camden's body was found was able to describe a pickup truck she had seen with its doors open and a Navy insignia on its window.

When she was questioned at the truck stop, McCrery identified herself and told police she had killed her son at a Hampton motel and left his body under a green blanket by the side of the road.

McCrery's family members — including a son on leave from the Navy — attended the sentencing.

McCrery's former boyfriend Robert Miller told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 that he's happy she's behind bars, but thinks she should have faced the death penalty.

"She won't hurt any more children, but really, I think that people who kill children should be put to death. I couldn't say "except for her" she'd have to fall into the same category," said Miller.

Listen: Miller Talks To WBZ NewsRadio 1030

Podcast

Miller added that McCrery was mentally disturbed, but he has no idea why she would have committed such a horrible act.

"She was disturbed. I heard now that she's on medication and her mind is clearing up. I wish that would have happened earlier, but it never did."

WBZ-TV's Jim Smith reports

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.