GUILTY IN - Vanessa Dean for attempted murder of 4yo son, Lawrenceburg, 2012

A mother allegedly tried to kill herself and her son because she feared the child would be taken away from her.


That was Vanessa Dean’s reasoning for pouring gasoline around her Alpine Drive home and setting it ablaze the afternoon of October 13.

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On Monday, Dean plead guilty but mentally ill.

A judge originally sentenced her to 15 years in prison, but suspended 13 of those years and will now serve two years under home incarceration. In addition, Dean will get supervised visits with her son.

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Reading from a psychiatrist’s court-ordered evaluation of Dean, Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard said Dean believed at the time she set the fire that she was on trial for murder, that her child was going to be taken from her, and that police were going to give her a lethal injection.



“She never thought twice about setting the fire,” Negangard said.



Two doctors diagnosed the mother was diagnosed as being in the early stages of schizophrenia. While the doctors agreed Dean could assist with her defense, the evaluations made it clear to prosecutors that it would be a difficult case to win in a jury trial.

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