Disabled Illinois Woman Abandoned In Tennessee; Mom Won't Be Charged
CARYVILLE, Tenn. (CBS) -- A developmentally disabled Algonquin woman abandoned by her mother in a bar in Tennessee has been made a ward of that state, after prosecutors determined her mother didn't break any laws when she left her there.
As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, Eva Cameron, 45 – according to news reports from Tennessee – told police she didn't want her daughter, Lynn, anymore.
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Police originally said the mother would be charged with a crime, but prosecutors later determined she didn't commit one.
Eva Cameron told police in the small town of Caryville, Tenn., that she took her daughter to the Big Orange Bar, directed the developmentally disabled 19-year-old to go to the restroom, and left.
Lynn Cameron cannot communicate, and for 10 days, police had no idea who she was.
News coverage of the disabled girl abandoned in a bar led to tips from 10 states, including the one that checked out and led to Lynn Cameron and her mother.
Speaking to the Northwest Herald, Eva Cameron said she brought her daughter to Tennessee because it has the "number 1 health care system" in the country, and that her church had directed her to the state because it has a larger population of Baptists.
Lynn Cameron suffers from multiple disabilities, including cerebral palsy and visual impairment, the newspaper reported.
Eva Cameron told the newspaper that she also has another disabled child and couldn't handle caring for both of them. She called the fallout from her choice to leave her daughter behind "just a big hoopla out of nothing," the Northwest Herald reports.
Lynn Cameron was to be taken to the Michael Dunn Center, a facility for children and adults with developmental disabilities in Roane County, Tenn. A ruling still must be issued on whether she will remain in Tennessee or be returned to Illinois, reports CBS affiliate WVLT-TV, Knoxville.
