Autistic Girl Isabelle Stapleton Improving After Mother Nearly Killed Her
The 14-year-old autistic girl whose mother attempted to murder her is slowly improving, her father said. Isabelle Stapleton and her mother, Kelli, were found unconscious in Michigan, but both were revived and Kelli is now charged with Isabelle's attempted murder.
Matt Stapleton, Isabelle's father, received a disturbing phone call from Kelli last week and could tell that something was wrong. When he couldn't find his daughter, he alerted authorities, who managed to find the family's van parked in a rural area filled with poisonous carbon monoxide.
"The officers could tell immediately that the mother had been successful in generating the carbon monoxide," Lt. Kip Belcher told the media.
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Police took both to a local hospital for treatment, and Kelli was released into the custody of the police. Isabelle required extra help and remains in the hospital. Her father has kept the public updated on his daughter's condition.
"She is currently receiving help from a respirator and breathing tube, and her blood pressure is stable," Matt initially told the media. "At this time she is still unresponsive after being lifted from the medically induced coma she was put in for the treatment of her injuries."
However, Isabelle is now able to walk and talk and the ventilator has been removed, Matt wrote on his Facebook page. Isabelle is doing well but still faces the challenges of growing up with severe autism. Her mother kept a blog about raising a child with autism entitled "The Status Woe."
One recent entry described the hardship of getting Isabella into a treatment facility for aggressive behavior.
"I never once had any peace or rest," Kelli posted not long before the murder-suicide attempt. "There was a constant (and very real threat) that funding would be pulled. It was not as exhausting as getting my a-- kicked (literally) every day, but there was no time to lick my wounds while she was in treatment either."
Now, though, Isabelle's father has to deal with finding the money required to take care of his daughter's medical expenses.
