WMBD/WYZZ  TV – PEKIN – For the first time, the jury in the Karen McCarron murder case heard the defendant's account of the crime.. in her own words.  The courtroom was silent as the tape played for more than an hour.

The jury saw McCarron's hospital room confession, videotaped just two days after her three year old autistic daughter Katie died.  On the tape McCarron is seen hunched over on the side of her hospital bed holding her husband's hand.  She spoke softly while telling a Morton police detective how she suffocated Katie with a white, plastic garbage bag.  On the tape the defendant said "I just wanted autism out of her life."

She admitted having thoughts of hurting Katie for more than a year before the death.  But McCarron said it was a spur of the moment decision to kill her daughter.  She told the police detective she removed the murder weapon from the scene of the crime and disposed of it at a Casey's General Store because she thought for a moment she could get away with it.  At the end of the tape, McCarron told the detective, autism left her hollow and drained her of all emotion.  As the tape played in the courtroom – McCarron’s head could be seen sinking farther and farther down.

The prosecution rested its case early this afternoon and the defense began calling witnesses.  The judge actually dismissed the jury at around 2:30, saying lawyers were way ahead of schedule.  The trial resumes tomorrow morning at 9.