An Elmhurst woman is facing jail time after entering a guilty plea Thursday to administering a lethal combination of drugs to her 7-year-old son in a murder-suicide attempt.
Cheryl Luchetta, 42, gave her son "a mix of Valium and Tylenol PM," in June 2011 before slitting her own throat and blacking out. When Luchetta awoke, her son was unresponsive, but was released after hospital treatment.
Luchetta pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of a child, a Class X felony, in a deal with DuPage County prosecutors, who dropped an attempted murder charge, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Luchetta, who originally claimed an armed intruder had drugged her son and slit her throat, explained in court that she "was going through a difficult divorce and wanted to kill herself," the Daily Herald reports. Despite her history of mental illness, Luchetta was found fit for trial in an evaluation last year.
Luchetta's bail was set at $1 million last April because prosecutors said she posed a "grave risk" to her son and ex-husband, Elmhurst Patch reports. She faces between six to 30 years in prison.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story read that Luchetta pleaded guilty to giving her son Valium, diazepam and Tylenol PM, based on an initial, 2011 report. More recent reports say the boy was given a mix of Valium and Tylenol PM.
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