Mom may have mental disorder, attorney says

The attorney for Mathew Rotell's father says the boy's mother may have a rare disorder thatcan cause someone to injure her children.

By AMY ELLIS and JAMES THORNER

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 1999

LAND O'LAKES -- The day her son was found dead in the family minivan, neighbors described Kristina Gaime as a doting, even overprotective, mother who rarely let her two boys out of her sight.

An attorney for Gaime's ex-husband says that vigilance may have turned into a dangerous obsession.

A mourner hugs Mathew Rotell's stepfather, Jerry Gaime, right, Wednesday outside Curry & Roel Funeral Home during a memorial service for Mathew. [Times photo: Joseph Garnett Jr.]

In court documents filed three days after the death of Gaime's 6-year-old son, Mathew Rotell, the boy's father alleges that Gaime, 34, appears to suffer from a rare mental disorder that compels parents to hurt their children.

Stephen Rotell, an attorney for Mathew's father, said Wednesday he plans to call a nationally known expert on Munchausen syndrome by proxy to testify that Gaime exhibits signs of the disorder, which leads parents to deliberately injure or sicken a child to gain attention and sympathy.

"I'm not an expert, but she clearly fits the profile from what we have seen," said Jim Kramer, the Tampa lawyer representing Rotell. "Over and over, she has made unfounded allegations of abuse against the father, when, in fact, it seems there were injuries that may have been inflicted by the mother."

Gaime's attorney, Bob Nutter, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Gaime has declined to speak to reporters about her son's death.

The Munchausen allegation is the latest turn in the mysterious death of Mathew Rotell, a first-grader at Denham Oaks Elementary. Authorities have labeled the death a homicide, although no suspects have been named. A grand jury may hear the case as early as next month, a requirement in all first-degree murder cases.

In a series of emotional court hearings in Tampa, attorneys for Mathew's parents have bickered over where to bury the boy and over custody of Mathew's brother, Adam, 8, who remains in state custody.

Next week, Circuit Judge Virginia Maye is expected to decide whether Rotell, who has been accused by Gaime at least five times of abusing their sons, will be given custody of the boy.

Rotell was barred from visiting his sons while the abuse charges, the latest in October, were investigated. Those allegations have since been proved unfounded.

The boys, according to documents filed by Rotell, had begun asking Gaime if their father was dead.

The possibility that Gaime suffers from Munchausen Syndrome "cannot be ignored in relation to . . . (Mathew's) recent suspicious death while in her care," Kramer said in his motion to the court to have Rotell's visitation rights restored.

Dr. Deborah Day, a child psychologist and the author of a book on Munchausen Syndrome, examined Gaime and will testify on her mental condition in court next week, Kramer said.

Since the 1970s, doctors have recognized Munchausen as a form of child abuse. Hundreds of cases of the disease have been reported, and about 12 percent of those cases ended in the death of a child.

The disease made headlines in Tampa in 1997 when Michele Lynn Price pleaded guilty to manslaughter for smothering her 14-month-old daughter, Bonnie Jean Bolden. Bonnie's family had called 911 to report the toddler had stopped breathing. Doctors later said Price had Munchausen Syndrome.

Another documented case of Munchausen is that of Kathy Bush of Coral Springs. Bush's 11-year-old daughter, Jennifer, had been subjected to 40 surgeries and 200 hospital visits by the age of 9.

Her mother said Jennifer had trouble digesting food. After her mother's arrest in 1996 on child abuse charges, Jennifer Bush's alleged digestive disorder vanished.

The diagnosis of Munchausen in Gaime's case is unlikely, said William Hafling, a St. Petersburg psychologist who has studied the disorder.

Hafling said he's suspicious when ex-spouses in child custody disputes invoke the disorder.

"Consider the source. He's been at war with her, she's been at war with him. They're pulling out all the stops," Hafling said. "There could be 8,000 reasons for his death. I'd put Munchausen at the bottom of my suspect list."

On Wednesday, Gaime's family gathered at a funeral home in Lutz for one of two memorial services planned for Mathew. Two separate funeral services are scheduled for today. The arrangements were approved by Maye, who called an emergency meeting Tuesday after hearing that family members were fighting over the boy's burial.

Gaime remained at University Community Hospital on Wednesday with bruises, blisters and scrapes from what her attorneys have said was a brutal attack the night before Mathew's body was found. She was listed in fair condition.

Nutter, her lawyer, said her injuries are so severe that if she attends Mathew's funeral services she will be in a wheelchair or on a gurney.

Pasco sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers dismissed the intruder theory, saying it sounded like a trial balloon floated by Gaime's family.

"I can tell you that no one has made a complaint to anyone at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office regarding any kind of attack on the victim's mother," Powers said.