Mother in cancer case lost custody of older child

Mother in cancer case lost custody of older child

By Chris Cassidy and Julie Manganis
Staff writers


SALEM — The Salem mother charged with failing to give her 8-year-old son his cancer medications has a history of involvement with the Department of Social Services and police and lost custody of an older child, officials confirmed yesterday.

Kristen Anne LaBrie, 36, is also the mother of a 16-year-old child, her lawyer, Kevin James, said during her arraignment Monday on a child endangerment charge.

The older child was removed from LaBrie's custody at the request of DSS several years ago and now lives with a relative, a DSS spokeswoman confirmed yesterday. Allison Goodwin said she could not go into details of the earlier case and could not comment on why the older child was removed.

LaBrie has pleaded not guilty in the current case and is free on personal recognizance. Her lawyer has said she denies the charges.

LaBrie is accused of failing to give her son Jeremy Fraser his chemotherapy at home and canceling appointments for hospital treatments for his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Prosecutors allege that as a result Jeremy's condition has declined and is now terminal.

Police and prosecutors have not offered a motive and say they've never seen a case like this one.

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