Mom of girl, 12, who fatally stabbed brother said she was on ADHD meds

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To Yaron Steinbach

Jun 2, 2023 | 8:26 AM

The heartbroken mother of an Oklahoma girl who stabbed her brother in a “diabolical” rage said the child had recently become “angry for no reason” while on ADHD medication. But by the time she weaned her daughter off her medication, she said it had gotten worse too. Later she experienced a “manic episode”.

April Lida revealed during an interview NewsNation interview On Thursday night, she believed her daughter attacked her 9-year-old brother Xander in the chest at her Tulsa home on January 5.

“From what we’ve looked into, it seems like it was a medication issue, not something else. Like some sort of manic episode,” Lida tearfully told host Chris Cuomo. .

She said her daughter became irritable when she was put back on medication for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

When asked why she stopped taking the medicine, Lida explained that the girl cut her arm “within a month of starting it again”.

“So I took her off right away. After a long conversation, talking to school, doctors, and herself, she became really irritable, irritable, and irritable for no reason while on her meds.” He said he felt

“So of course I took her off. Unfortunately it was too late. The damage has been done. Things like this can happen months or even years after you’ve been off the medication like this.” there is,” said the grieving mother.

She said her daughter had been homeschooled for a while, but when she returned to school her grades dropped and her doctor recommended she start taking her medication again.

“So I put her back in. And a few weeks later, a month later, she cut her arm. I did,” Lida said.

“So she’s been using it for five years straight, but the reason we took her off it was to see if she could live without it and do schoolwork without it.” Because I wanted to,” she explained.

Lida said her daughter cut her own hand just before attacking her brother.

“They were good friends and had been friends for a long time… they did yoga together almost every night. They went on vacations and trips together. They always sat next to each other. They were very close.” She loved him and he loved her,” she told Cuomo.

The mother said she had “no idea” why her daughter killed Zander.

“She is heartbroken and very guilty, but still doesn’t understand why she did it. He said he seemed to believe her because he had been working with her every day for six months,” Lida said.

“And I believe in her too, because I know my child and I know it’s not her,” she said.

Darcy Sterling, a licensed clinical social worker, told Cuomo there was a “missing piece of the puzzle” and doubted unspecified drugs were the only factor involved in the tragedy. said.

“I’ve never heard of a child accidentally doing something like this without any warning,” Sterling said. “Drugs don’t make people killers like that.”

Due to the girl’s age, the Tulsa District Attorney’s Office was unable to release any information about the case, including what charges she was accused of.