Irving woman sentenced to 45 years for killing of 6-year-old son in New Hampshire

By Lynne Tuohy - Associated Press

DallasNews.com

January 13, 2012

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (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.

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. 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.

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 Gets Full Sentence Despite Pleas for Leniency

Mother showed remorse, called son her "life's music."

Posted by Kyle Stucker (Editor) - Hampton-Northampton.patch.com

January 13, 2012

Julianne McCrery stood motionless Friday morning as Rockingham Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau imposed a 45-year-to-life sentence on the Texas woman for , a sentence Nadeau levied moments after listening to requests for a lighter sentence and emotional testimony from McCrery and her family.

McCrery, who killed her son, Camden Hughes, in a Hampton motel in May 2011, was visibly shaken during her sentencing hearing, often sobbing and crying while attempting to express deep remorse for ending the life of her son, whom she called her "life's music.

"I can liken what my heart is going through to what a rocket goes through upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere," McCrery said in court. "My sorrow is lingering and profoundly debilitating. I am very sorry to have caused intense pain and suffering to my precious son. He did nothing whatsoever to deserve death by my hand. We was never an inconvenience to me."

McCrery said in court her dosage of anxiety medication has been increased "to 50 milligrams from 30 to 45 milligrams" by prison doctors so "it makes situations harder to get upset about and to stay on a more even keel," although she was far from emotionless while using a variety of words and tears while describing her "excruciating" grief, brought on by her actions and the way it has impacted her family and others in Hughes' life.

The most emotional and tear-filled portion of McCrery's statement came while apologizing to Hughes' kindergarten teacher after McCrery apologized for her actions to a variety of individuals in Hughes' life.

"I understand she's devastated," said McCrery, choking back tears before closing her remarks by giving a brief "thank you" to the court for "listening."

McCrery's statement followed prepared remarks from her oldest son, her mother and Hughes' father, Chris Hughes, who called for Nadeau to reduce the sentence so she can "have some life with her son" despite McCrery's "horrible" actions.

After McCrery's statement, Nadeau thanked the family for the heartfelt words, although she said she couldn't waver from the terms agreed upon in a second-degree murder plea deal reached between McCrery and the state.

"Based on what I heard, I can't justify deviating from the request, although I understand the concern expressed here today," said Nadeau moments before issuing her sentence.

As Nadeau issued the sentence, which McCrery will serve in the  in Goffstown, McCrery stood facing the front of the courtroom, her attorney's hand on her back.

McCrery was then escorted out of court shortly thereafter, during which she made one nod of acknowledgement to family members before disappearing from sight.

Family members expressed a variety of emotions in court, from love for McCrery and Camden Hughes to anger that the boy life was stripped in such a .

"We will never be whole again," said Lu Rae McCrery, Julianne's mother, who flew in from Nebraska for Friday's hearing. "Life as I knew it ended on May 18, 2011, when Camden's body was identified and Juli was arrested on suspicion of his murder. I was drawn into a , and I don't know if I will ever wake up from it.

"I know nothing will ever be normal again."

Lu Rae McCrery, a woman whom Julianne McCrery contended to police was unfit to raise Hughes, which is why Julianne McCrery has said she planned to take Hughes' life and then her own, thanked the New England families that held vigils in Hughes' honor, and closed her remarks by stating "I love you, Juli."

Ian McCrery, Julianne McCrery's eldest son, a Navy man on leave to attend the sentencing, told his mother in court multiple times that "I still love you a lot," and said he believed his mother's claim that she wanted to end both her life and Hughes' life to be together in heaven.

Ian McCrery said Hughes' death caused him great pain because of their closeness, although he did forgive his mother in court Friday.

"I have forgiven you," said Ian McCrery. "You were always a great mother, and you produced a great byproduct in me. I'm doing really well. I apologize you won't see the greatness to come of me throughout my life."

No additional court dates are scheduled for Julianne McCrery, who has been held at the Strafford County House of Corrections. Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell, the prosecuting attorney in the case, said Wednesday that McCrery may be transported back to Strafford County before she is processed in Goffstown.

Chilling Murder Details Revealed as Julianne McCrery Pleads Guilty

Texas woman smothered her son with a pillow.

Posted by Kyle Stucker (Editor) - Hampton-Northampton.patch.com

November 05, 2011

Julianne McCrery was speechless Friday morning moments after a Rockingham Superior Court judge finalized the Texas woman's guilty plea to one count of second-degree murder for killing her 6-year-old son earlier this year.

McCrery, whose hair was cut just above shoulder length Friday, looked around the court and made eye contact with a few of her family members for no more than five to 10 seconds before she was escorted out of the courtroom after the 46-minute plea hearing.

McCrery said little and shed no tears during the court appearance, although she did admit her guilt after Judge Tina Nadeau asked McCrery if she understood her rights, the terms of her plea and if McCrery is "pleading guilty because [she] is in fact guilty?"

"Yes, m'am," McCrery replied to the question.

McCrery didn't look at Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell as Morrell outlined publicly for the first time some of the details of Saturday, May 14 — the day on which McCrery "smothered" her son, Camden Hughes, at the in Hampton.

Among those details was the fact that McCrery traveled from Texas to Maine because it was the only place where she could obtain castor beans, a type of seed that contains ricin, a fatal poison which McCrery allegedly wanted to use to kill herself.

Morrell said McCrery had tried killing herself using the beans before Hughes was born. She said McCrery told police that her intention was to try to use the beans again after killing her son, which Morrell said McCrery said she wanted to do because she didn't think he could be raised well without her.

"She said no one else in her family was fit to raise him if she was dead, and she didn't want him raised by social services," Morrell told the court Friday.

Morrell said McCrery purchased the beans in Maine on May 12 before spending May 13 at Hampton Beach with her son.

Later that day, Morrell said McCrery checked into the Stone Gable Inn with Hughes, and she later gave her son Nyquil because, according to Morrell, McCrery "didn't want him to be lucid" when she smothered him in the early morning hours of May 14.

Morrell said McCrery waited for Hughes to fall asleep, at which point she "lifted her son and placed him face-down" on a pile of pillows she had constructed. Morrell said McCrery then "laid on top of him, applying pressure to his body, and put her hand over his mouth."

"She smothered him with his face in the pillow," said Morrell. "She stated [to police that] her son struggled by flailing his arms and kicking his legs for three to four minutes before becoming limp."

McCrery then wrapped her son's body in a dark green blanket and placed him in the back of her truck, choosing to do so in the early morning because McCrery told police she didn't "want anyone to see or hear [them] in the daylight," according to Morrell.

McCrery then drove along Route 4, eventually crossing into Maine. Morrell said McCrery thought she was still in New Hampshire when she drove down Dennett Road in South Berwick, Maine, to a secluded portion of the dirt road, and left his body in the woods, 32 feet from the edge of the roadway.

Morrell said McCrery "placed him in an area where she didn't think he'd be discovered."

Hughes' body was discovered on the same day by Manly Grove, a Dennett Road resident who lived in close proximity to the site, and his family after first noticing McCrery's truck, and later finding Hughes' body. More details of that discovery are available .

During Hughes' autopsy, Morrell said a medical examiner for the state of Maine found "long hairs" on Hughes' jacket, his tan pants, underwear and "tangled among the twigs" near the body.

Those hairs were collected as evidence, and DNA testing later revealed the hairs belonged to McCrery, said Morrell.

Morrell said the medical examiner also noted several injuries to Hughes during the autopsy, including petechiae across his face, around his eyelids and within his eyelids, which Morrell said indicated the manner of death was "some type of asphyxiation."

The cause of death was officially ruled as "mechanical asphyxiation," during which Morrell said pressure outside the body prevents breathing. She said the autopsy revealed McCrery had been "laying on top of him while smothering him."

"[The autopsy] also revealed that he suffered and struggled for several minutes before death, and that [McCrery] was definitely aware of the struggle," said Morrell.

Morrell said in court she that doubted McCrery's murder-suicide theory, alluding to the fact that her decision to use castor beans — a previously unsuccessful suicide method — "may indicate she did not want to kill herself," as could the superficial cut police found under a bandage on her wrist after she was taken into custody at a .

McCrery didn't reply to this statement in court, although she answered simply "Yes" to a variety of questions posed by Nadeau after Morrell finished presenting her evidence, which would have been shown at trial without the plea arrangement.

Among those questions included acknowledgements that McCrery's plea deal, which makes her eligible for parole after no fewer than 45 years, prevents McCrery from filing an appeal.

McCrery was asked if she was seeing a doctor, and if she has been diagnosed with a mental illness. McCrery told Nadeau "No" to the former question, while she replied "Not specifically, no" to the latter.

McCrery did say in court Friday that she's on two different types of daily medication, including: 30 milligrams of an antidepressant/sleeping medication, which she takes at night; and 20 milligrams of an anti-anxiety medication, administered in a 10-milligram dose in the morning and a 10-milligram dose in at bed.

Nadeau asked McCrery if she believed the medication "clouded" her mind in a way that may prevent the woman from "making a clear judgment," to which McCrery replied, "I believe they're helping me."

McCrery made no other statements during her court appearance, and her attorneys — Julia Nye and David Bettencourt — declined comment.

McCrery's family also declined comment. Morrell declined to discuss details of the case outside the courtroom, although she said the plea does bring resolution to a "difficult" ordeal for the families of McCrery and Hughes.

McCrery will be sentenced on Jan. 13. McCrery wasn't sentenced today because Morrell said not all of her family members could attend. Morrell said the family members in attendance Friday requested not to be named or identified.

Following the hearing, McCrery was presumably taken back to the Strafford County House of Corrections, where she has been held since her arraignment in Portsmouth District Court earlier this year due to the fact that Strafford has better facilities for female inmates than Rockingham County.

With mom's arrest, mystery of boy's body abates

By Associated Press

May 22, 2011

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Even as her son's image was plastered across TV and computer screens nationwide while authorities worked to identify the little boy found dead along a dirt road in Maine, his mother dutifully called his Texas school daily to report his absence.

Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, was ordered held without bail Thursday on second–degree murder charges in New Hampshire, where she made her initial court appearance in the death of her son, 6–year–old Camden, after waiving extradition from Massachusetts.

Information offered by authorities and friends paint a portrait of a loving but troubled mother who suffered from mood swings that sometimes culminated in road trips — but she'd always come back.

This time, after one such trip to New England, she won't be returning to Texas anytime soon.

A lawyer representing McCrery at a brief hearing in Massachusetts said that judging by conversations with his client, he thinks McCrery traveled hundreds of miles from home with the idea of taking her son's life and committing suicide.

"I believe she was up here to bring both herself and her son to heaven," Murphy said in Concord, Mass. "She told me, 'I love my son very much. I know where he is. He's in heaven. I want to go there as soon as possible.'"

The 6–year–old's body was found Saturday in an isolated area in South Berwick, Maine, and state police were at a loss to identify him because no one had reported him missing. Police believe he was killed in Hampton, N.H.

The last day the boy attended school in Texas was Friday, May 6. The next Monday, his mother called to report that he was absent because he was ill, and she continued to call this week, saying he was still sick, said Pat Lamb, director of security for the Irving Independent School District.

Meanwhile, the case was drawing national attention as the boy went unidentified for days. State police in Maine distributed a picture of a boy with blond hair and blue eyes — an image taken of his corpse, but altered to show how he would have looked alive.

It's extremely unusual for a missing child to go unreported. Similar cases happened only twice over the past two years, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Preliminary autopsy findings showed that Camden died of asphyxiation and was killed, according to Maine's chief medical examiner. The homicide remains under investigation.

McCrery was detained Wednesday at a highway rest stop in Chelmsford, Mass., after police got a tip about her pickup truck, which matched a vehicle seen near the spot where the boy's body was found covered with a blanket.

Her son died Saturday, the same day his body was discovered by a resident in Maine. Investigators believe Camden was killed that same day in Hampton, N.H., where he and his mother had stayed a night in a motel and checked out Saturday morning.

All the developments in New England occurred within 65 miles of one another.

After the New Hampshire court hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell said McCrery's family was traveling to New England and will claim the boy's body, which is in Augusta (News - Alert), Maine. She did not say which family members or when they would arrive.

"I think it's just a tragic case. There's not much more I can say right now," said Monica Kaeser, McCrery's public defender in New Hampshire.

Back in Texas, some of McCrery's friends didn't even know she and her son had left the modest mobile home she had bought for $5,000. But some of them say they wouldn't have been overly alarmed because she sometimes disappeared.

She had done it before but always returned eventually. Just last fall, McCrery took her son out of kindergarten to travel to Seattle, said Shirley Miller, a longtime friend from Irving, Texas.

McCrery, known to friends as Julie, suffered from mood swings and sometimes would just "up and go" without telling anyone, Miller said.

"I would say she was a caring mother," Miller said. "I don't know why she did this unless she just flipped out."

Like most people, the woman appears to have harbored both demons and accomplishments.

Texas public records show that she was arrested at least twice on prostitution charges and once for possession with intent to distribute drugs.

And Amazon.com (News - Alert) features a book for sale by a woman named Julie McCrery about how to get a good night's sleep, titled: "Good Night, Sleep Tight!" The biography says the author drove a school bus and operated a cement mixer. Her latest job, according to court records in Massachusetts, was as an "auto parts delivery contractor" in Texas.

Miller said that she baby–sat for Camden about two weeks ago and that he was wearing the same clothes he had on when his body was found in Maine. She said the clothes were brand new.

"Why did she leave him beside the road? I cannot get past that. That does not seem like her," she said. "I know she probably did it, but I can't get past why."

Lamb described McCrery's son as "a gifted and talented" kindergartner at W.T. Hanes Elementary School in Irving. Grief counselors were on hand to assist children and staff as news of his death spread on 600–student campus, Lamb said.

"He was a really bright student," Lamb said. "His teachers described him as a sponge who loved to learn."

Julianne McCrery: A portrait of wild, angry, doting parent emerges

By Margery Eagan - BostonHerald.com

May 20, 2011

Shirley Miller recognized the green blanket that covered Camden Hughes’ dead body in the woods of Maine this week.

“It was his security blanket,” she said, the one he brought with him to sleepovers at “Grandma Shirley’s.” That’s what 6-year-old Camden called Shirley Miller, the mother of Robert Miller, Julianne McCrery’s on-again, off-again boyfriend since before Camden was born.

Grandma Shirley said yesterday she also recognized the clothes Camden wore in the first police photos released, before anyone even knew his identity.

“Those are the clothes he wore when I baby-sat him last,” she said. That was about two weeks ago. “They were brand new clothes.”

Then Shirley Miller reiterated what both her son and McCrery’s own mother have said: that they never, ever saw this nightmare coming.

McCrery had her “wild” times, Miller said. So wild, she did not know who fathered her newborn boy. McCrery had her battles with what Miller called “PMS-ing.”

“She’d get exasperated. She’d get angry at the world.” Not yelling and screaming, Miller said, just angry, though not with Camden, Miller insisted.

Instead, with him McCrery was “patient” and devoted, Miller said. She taught Camden phonics before he started kindergarten. She took him to the local library and made sure he had a tiny tuxedo when he was ring bearer at a family wedding last year.

McCrery, thoughtfully and typically, had just sent Miller a Mother’s Day card signed, “Camden and Julianne, with love.”

“That’s why I just cannot picture her as the kind of mother who’d leave her son on the side of the road,” Miller said. “I get really stuck on that.”

Miller also gets stuck on why McCrery, who told her lawyer she wanted to go to heaven with Camden, did not take her own life when she allegedly took her son’s.

Shirley Miller said she watched Julianne McCrery grow up, watched her marry, then divorce the father of her older son, Ian McCrery, who’s now with the military in Virginia.

Because Julianne McCrery’s mother, LuRae, hates the cold Nebraska winters, Shirley Miller offered LuRae her spare bedroom many times for visits. “I like her just real well. I like (Julianne). Always have. I’m just trying to understand.”

She said she and her husband have seven grandchildren but still kept a box full of toys at their home for Camden, too. It remains there, filled with his trucks and airplanes. Camden also loved to play math games.

“I’d say what’s 42 from 190, and he’d come up with an answer just like that,” Shirley Miller said. “We’d do it again and again.

“I’m going to miss Camden, that’s for sure.”

Texas Mom Charged in Death of Son, 6, Found in Maine

By Michelle McPhee, Jessica Hopper, Leezel Tanglao and Anne-Marie Dorning - ABCNews.go.com

May 19, 2011

In a blue jumpsuit and shackles, 42-year-old Julianne McCrery appeared in Portsmouth, N.H. District Court today to face charges in the death of her son, 6-year-old Camden Hughes. The boy's body was found dumped on a dirt road in rural Maine a week ago.

McCrery kept her head down, blinking back tears as the prosecutor read charges that included "knowingly causing the death of Camden Hughes by asphyxiation" and "causing a death with extreme indifference to human life."

The judge asked if McCrery wanted to have an attorney appointed by the state and she replied "Yes, ma'am." As she was being led away, flanked by two New Hampshire state troopers, the Texas mother broke down sobbing. McCrery will be held without bail until a probable cause hearing on May 26th.

Earlier in the day, McCrery appeared in a Massachusetts courtroom on fugitive from justice charges. She pled not guilty. Her court-appointed attorney in Massachusetts, George Murphy, told reporters that his client "loves her son and wanted to be with him in heaven." Murphy said he believes his client is suicidal and has said she wants to die. "I said you can go to heaven in a while. Why don't you pray for your son and pray for your family?" said Murphy.

When the body of the young boy was found clothed and abandoned on a rural road in Maine on May 14th, the discovery puzzled investigators. Nobody filed a missing persons report for the boy and a scan of missing persons databases turned up no leads. "He was clean. His fingernails seemed clean and appropriate. He was a small kid, but I don't think he was undernourished. He's a very cute boy, and again, he was clothed well. The sneakers were virtually brand-new on him," Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough said Tuesday.

Days after the body was discovered, an eyewitness came forward and reported seeing a truck driven by a woman with a license plate that carried a Navy insignia in the area shortly before the body was discovered. It was the first real lead law enforcement had in the case. On Wednesday, a truck fitting that description was spotted at a Chelmsford, Mass. rest stop and McCrery was taken into custody. "At 10:20 this morning, we received a call from a citizen who had seen prior coverage of this investigation...We responded with several troopers there and engaged...the lone occupant of the vehicle..." said David Procopio, director of communications for the Massachusetts State Police.

McCrery is being held without bail in New Hampshire because that is where law enforcement believe the murder occurred. New HampshireState Police searched the Stone Gable Inn in Hampton, N.H. yesterday. McCrery and her son reportedly stayed at the $175-per-week motel earlier in the month. Law enforcement officials will not say what they were looking for or even if their search is connected to the case.

McCrery is from Texas. An online listing for McCrery shows she self-published a book about how to fall asleep called "Good night, Sleep Tight." In her author's bio she described herself as a former school bus driver and cement mixer. McCrery has an older son serving in the Navy. His Facebook page shows that he works as a chef in the Navy.

Irving Mom Arrested In Massachusetts For Son’s Death

By Matt Goodman & Arezow Doost - CBSDFW.COM

May 18, 2011

CONCORD, Mass. (CBSDFW.COM) – An Irving mother is in police custody in Massachusetts after telling authorities she killed her son and dumped his body on the side of the road near the border of Maine and New Hampshire over the weekend, sources told the CBS station affiliate in Boston.

Julianne McCrery, 42, was taken into protective custody Wednesday after she told arresting officers that 6-year-old Camden Pierce Hughes, her son, died after she gave him an overdose of his cough syrup medication. As of Wednesday night, she had not been charged.

Authorities found the child’s body Saturday at about 5:30 p.m. near the New Hampshire border in South Berwick, Maine, wrapped in a blanket next to a dirt road. Police suspected the body had been there since 7:30 a.m. that morning.

Witnesses told police they saw a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck at the scene. A Massachusetts state trooper spotted a truck that matched witnesses’ descriptions at a rest stop just off Interstate 495 Wednesday at about 10:20 a.m., about 65 miles from where the boy’s body was found.

McCrery was driving the truck. Sources told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 in Boston that the 42-year-old identified the child as her son and that she gave him an overdose of his medication, killing him.

According to WBZ-TV, the medical examiner finished an autopsy over the weekend, but the official cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation.

“We were together for two years, but I’ve known (the boy) since the day he was born,” Robert Miller, McCrery’s ex-boyfriend who also lives in Irving, told WBZ-TV. “He was a very nice boy. He was an innocent boy.”

On Wednesday, friends gathered at the church McCrery sometimes attended to cope with the tragedy and find solace. Close friends called McCrery a good mother and a passive person who wouldn’t harm anyone – especially not her own son.

“Whatever happened, she was trying to help him and it backfired,” said close friend Hillary Watson. “She loves him! She would have never intentionally tried to hurt him.”

The truck, which WBZ-TV reported had Navy insignia on its license plate, is in the police barracks awaiting processing.

Soon after police found the boy’s body Saturday, authorities released a computer-generated photo, hoping someone would recognize him.

Police said they received about 60 tips from Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio. The photo was given to schools, day cares, pediatrician offices and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, WBZ-TV reported.

McCrery delivers auto parts and she also wrote a book called “Good Night, Sleep Tight,” which is meant to help those having trouble sleeping.It is not clear why McCrery was in Maine.

She was arrested in Dallas County in 2003 for prostitution and 2004 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Both those cases were dismissed.

Mother of Mystery Maine Boy Confesses to Killing Son and Dumping Him on Rural Road: Sources

By Michelle McPhee and Jessica Hopper - ABCNews.go.com

May 18, 2011

A Texas woman has confessed to killing and dumping her son's body along a rural road in Maine, sources told ABC News.

The 6-year-old boy, Camden Pierce Hughes, was dumped by Julianne McCrery. McCrery told police that she accidentally gave her son too much cough syrup, the sources said.

McCrery once wrote a book about how to fall asleep called "Goodnight, Sleep Tight." In her author's bio, she described herself as a former school bus driver and cement mixer.

The woman who is being questioned in connection with the case has been taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation and has not been charged with a crime, said David Procopio, director of communications for Massachusetts State Police.

"She remains in the care and custody of Massachusetts State Police. ... I'm not confirming any ages and names," Procopio said at a press conference this afternoon. Procopio declined to identify the woman or the boy and referred reporters to the New Hampshire State Attorney's office. He also declined to say why New Hampshire authorities were in charge of the investigation.

A Massachusetts state trooper spotted McCrery this morning at a rest area near Chelmsford, Mass., police said. "At 10:20 this morning, we received a call from a citizen who had seen prior coverage of this investigation. ... We responded with several troopers there and engaged ... the lone occupant of the vehicle, and that's why we're here now," Procopio said.

The "lone occupant," McCrery, was in a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, the same type of truck that authorities have been frantically searching for since Camden's body was found Saturday. She told a Massachusetts state trooper that she killed her son and was contemplating killing herself, sources told ABC News.

When the female trooper asked McCrery if she needed assistance, she responded: "I killed my son. I want to kill myself."

McCrery was taken into custody at the Concord State Police barracks.

State Police officials confirmed that they are questioning the woman in connection with the discovery of the boy's body, which was found fully clothed under a green fleece blanket on Dennett Road in South Berwick, Maine, on Saturday.

McCrery's ex-boyfriend told ABC affiliate WCVB that he never thought McCrery would hurt their son.

"She loved him dearly," Miller said. "He was a very nice little boy. He was real smart."

The mystery of who dumped the boy has puzzled investigators. Nobody filed a missing persons report for the boy. A scan of missing persons databases turned up no leads.

"He was clean. His fingernails seemed clean and appropriate. He was a small kid, but I don't think he was undernourished. He's a very cute boy, and again, he was clothed well. The sneakers are virtually brand-new on him," Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough said Tuesday.

An eyewitness spotted a woman driving a truck with a Navy insignia embossed in or around the truck's license plate.

Police began alerting Navy Reserve centers and brought in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to help in the search because of a hunch that someone with a military connection may have dumped the boy's body.

Indeed, one of McCrery's sons serves in the Navy. His Facebook page shows that he works as a chef in the Navy.

Other facts that hinted at a military connection included the boy's clothing. Found fully clothed, the boy had on a gray-colored camouflage hooded sweatshirt and a navy blue T-shirt with "Aviator Series" displayed on the front, police said.

The State Police Computer Crimes Unit produced a computer-generated photo of the unidentified boy. The boy was 3 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. His baby teeth had yet to fall out.

The death has been deemed suspicious, and investigators have not ruled out homicide.

ABC News' Marisa Bramwell contributed to this report.

Mystery Maine Boy Found Dead on Rural Road Puzzles Investigators

By Jessica Hopper - ABCNews.go.com

May 16, 2011

Despite receiving at least 100 tips, police said they're no closer to identifying the dead boy found under a blanket on a rural road in Maine.

"Somebody has got to miss this child. He's a nephew of somebody, a son or grandson of somebody. ... It's just been very, very frustrating that we haven't gotten any leads, significant leads, in identifying this child," said Maine State Police Lt. Brian McDonough.

On Saturday, the body of a boy between the ages of 4 and 5 was found on Dennett Road in South Berwick, Maine, at around 5 p.m. A passerby who lives in the neighborhood saw the body with a blanket over it, police said. Police won't reveal how decomposed the body was or if the body showed signs of trauma.

"I think this is a suspicious death. There's a lot that we still don't know that we need to learn from people that were familiar with him," said McDonough.

What makes the discovery of the body even more of a mystery is no boy has been reported missing in Maine, New Hampshire or Massachusetts who fits the boy's description, authorities said.

Before the body was found, residents spotted a woman driving a blue pickup truck in the area Saturday morning.

"A blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was seen in the area Saturday, and so obviously, we need to check that out," said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police.

The truck has an extended cab and a full cap over the bed. Police have not been able to track where the truck is licensed. Over the weekend, police took castings of tire impressions and foot impressions on the road.

Today, police are looking at surveillance video, hoping they might catch a glimpse of the child.

McDonough said that he believes the person who dumped the body had to be familiar with the rural, semi-paved road because it is in a remote area.

South Berwick is near the New Hampshire border, and New Hampshire authorities have been helping in the investigation. Members of Team Adam from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are also involved. Team Adam includes former law enforcement officials and those familiar with missing children cases.

The State Police Computer Crimes Unit produced a computer-generated photo of the unidentified boy. The boy was 3 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. His baby teeth had yet to fall out.

The fully clothed boy was wearing a gray colored camouflage hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants, a navy blue T-shirt with "Aviator Series" displayed on the front and "Lightning McQueen" black sneakers, police said.

Police thought that they had a near break in the case earlier today when a law enforcement tip led them to search for a boy of a similar build and description as the unidentified boy. A check revealed that the boy was safely at home.

"Progress is coming in, leads, and information is coming in, and as long as that continues we have something to follow up on and work to do," McDonough said.

Anyone with information about the boy's identity or the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck spotted in the area should call Maine State Police at 207-657-3030.