A Florida woman was arrested and charged with murder after she allegedly killed her 3-year-old son in order to punish her ex with whom she was engaged in a bitter custody battle. Amy Oliver, 36 and from Jacksonville, is said to have used a lethal dose of sedatives to end her young son’s life and tried to end her own life after the deed was done, News4Jax reports.
- Authorities believe Oliver acted with intent in order to cause her ex pain. After the boy’s father called for help because he wasn’t breathing, the toddler found unresponsive in the bedroom of Oliver’s home on Republic Drive in Jacksonville Beach. Police immediately suspected his mother as she had locked herself in a bathroom and refused to come out and they discovered a purse on the floor with a controlled substance in it. It was later revealed that the boy died of a “lethal dose” of Temazapam.
- The crime was every parent’s worse nightmare. The boy’s father said that he and Oliver shared custody of the child and that she had come to his house one afternoon to pick the boy up. However, she asked to take a nap before driving home to Green Cove Springs. Sadly, when he checked on them three hours later, the bedroom door was locked. That’s when she sent him a text message, the content of which had been redacted, that was concerning enough for him to call the police. After the father forced his way into the room, he saw a “large amount of blood on the bed” and the boy’s body unconscious. While he tried CPR, he was unsuccessful.
- The evidence against Oliver was overwhelming. In addition to the drugs and Oliver’s behavior, police revealed that while they were investigating, they discovered a text message that “strongly suggested that Defendant made a premeditated decision” to kill the boy and then herself to make her ex and his family suffer. When firefighters arrived, they found Oliver with “an uncapped syringe in her hand,” Jacksonville.com reports, and she lunged towards the rescue worker.
- Oliver is facing more than just murder charges. While that’s the most serious charge against her, she also faces charges for aggravated child abuse, aggravated assault on an emergency care worker, and aggravated manslaughter of a child. If convicted, she will likely spend much of the rest of her life behind bars.
