Lawyer: Mom wanted heaven for son, self

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - A Texas woman accused of killing her 6-year-old son and leaving his body on a dirt road in Maine may have come to New England to kill her son and commit suicide, saying that the boy is "in heaven" and that she wants to go there as soon as possible, her lawyer said yesterday.

Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, was ordered held without bail yesterday on second-degree murder charges in New Hampshire, where she made her initial court appearance after waiving extradition earlier in the day from Massachusetts.

She stared at the floor during her appearance in Portsmouth District Court, and she appeared to be crying when she was led from the courtroom.

Hours earlier, a lawyer representing her at a hearing in Massachusetts said that based on conversations with his client, he believes that she came to the region with the idea of taking her son's life and committing suicide.

"I believe she was up here to bring both herself and her son to heaven," attorney George Murphy said in Concord, Mass. "She told me, 'I love my son very much. I know where he is. He's in heaven. I want to go there as soon as possible.' "