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Mother chokes three-year-old son to death 'in attempt to exorcise the devil in him'
By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 5:29 PM on 2nd January 2011
A mother allegedly killed her three-year-old son in a botched exorcism after believing his temper tantrums were caused by the devil.
Latisha Lawson, 31, became convinced her two young children were possessed by demons.
She forced her son, Jeziah King, to drink a mixture of olive oil and vinegar - and when he spat out the liquid she held his mouth shut for ten minutes, which caused him to die.
Possessed: Latisha Lawson allegedly choked son Jeziah King to death, believing the three-year-old's devils were caused by the devil
A preliminary autopsy revealed that the toddler was choked to death.
Mrs Lawson then forced her ten-year-old-daughter. Kierra, to pray over her dead brother before wrapping his body in a blanket and storing it in a cupboard.
The toddler's death was only discovered earlier this month when his decaying body was found at Mr Lawson's home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after a welfare check.
The victim's grandmother had contacted authorities after becoming concerned for his welfare.
Religious: The 31-year-old mother allegedly performed the 'exorcism' in Fort Wayne, Indiana
She is alleged to have told police she wanted to rid her son of the demons that were causing his bad behaviour.
Mrs Lawson said she gave the same mixture of oil and vinegar to her daughter but she managed to spit out the liquid.
The deeply religious mother admitted she had held her son's mouth shut to stop him from spitting out the liquid.
Religious experts said oil and vinegar wasn't usually used in exorcisms.
'I don't know of any particular denomination that has an official practice saying these are the things you need to use in order to exorcise a demon,' said Dr Quinton Dixie, IPFW religion professor.
He said oil is often used as something to anoint or bless in the Bible but not to deter evil.
Mrs Lawson is being held without bail on a preliminary charge of child neglect. Officials are likely to upgrade the charge to manslaughter.
