A McKeesport woman waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges she killed her toddler son and sent a video of the boy's lifeless body to his father over text messages during a jealous, vengeful rage.
Christian Clark, 21, is jailed on charges of criminal homicide in the death of 17-month-old Andre Price III. She is also charged with trying to kill her 2-year-old daughter.
Allegheny County police said Clark sent a barrage of angry texts, threats, photos and videos over more than two hours Nov. 1, then later confessed to smothering the boy.
According to a criminal complaint, Clark said she'd been arguing with the children’s father, 23-year-old Andre Price Jr., earlier in the day because Clark accused the man of cheating on her.
According to the complaint, the text messages from Clark to Price Jr. "turn to animus and threats against the children. She was advised the messages included messages stating that she had killed her son and some video messages showed her son's lifeless body."
WPXI's Shelley Bortz said Clark stood emotionless as the criminal charges were read in court.
“She loves her children, she loves him, she loved him,” said Milton Raiford, Clark’s attorney. “For her to be such a young woman and get to the point with the existence of her kids that led to this is an indication of her brokenness.”
Raiford said Clark’s mental stability to stand trial will be examined.
“No. 1, to determine if she’s competent to stand trial,” Raiford said. “No. 2, to see her capacity at the time.”
Price Jr. is jailed on child endangerment charges, as police said he should have called 911. He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 12, and his attorney also has not commented.
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