The mother of a young woman dying of AIDS has been arrested on charges she fed her daughter ice cream laced with sleeping pills in an attempt to kill her and end her suffering, authorities said.
Geraldine Hansen, 46, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and was freed on $50,000 bail.Her daughter, Gina Hansen, 23, who weighs 50 pounds and is given less than six months to live, was treated at a hospital after the overdose and released.
Geraldine Hansen said as she left court, "Gina knows I love her." And her lawyer, James Schultz, said that his client never tried to kill her daughter and that the young woman suffers from dementia brought on by her illness.
Geraldine Hansen, a drugstore clerk, had cared for her ailing daughter since she moved back home two years ago.
"It's been real hard for her, bringing up that kid and then losing her," said Ray Ryea, a next-door neighbor.
He said Geraldine Hansen is a hard-working single parent who lost three children in a fire years ago - "then her daughter gets AIDS, and now this."
Gina told authorities her mother tried to kill her in late April by giving her ice cream laced with sleeping pills. She said her mother wanted to end her suffering and "just get it over with," according to the arrest warrant.
The mother was arrested May 6.
The court documents were unsealed Wednesday after the Journal Inquirer of Manchester filed a motion arguing Gina Hansen waived her right to confidentiality under the state's AIDS law when she made a videotaped statement to authorities.
Denise Driscoll, a caseworker for the Visiting Nurses Association, told authorities the mother had asked her several times what medication and in what quantity would be needed to kill her daughter, according to court documents.
Driscoll told police that Gina told her on April 21 she suspected her mother was going to kill her with an overdose of medicine. The next day, Driscoll said, she arrived to find Gina groggy and slurring her words.