Friends of lawyer mother who jumped to her death with her baby come to her defense after male blogger attacks the victim for being 'evil' and 'selfish'
View
comments
The New York lawyer who committed suicide by jumping out the window with her toddler son was a brilliant, kind but very sick woman, not the selfish monster she has been made out to be, according to her friends.
Cynthia Wachenheim, 44, leaped to her death Wednesday from her eight-story window after an argument with her husband.
Her 10-month-old son, Keston, who was strapped to his mother in a baby carrier, survived the fall as Wachenheim's body served as a cushion from the pavement.
Scroll down for video
Strong defense: Elizabeth Nowicki, left, called out a blogger for penning an opinion piece sharply criticizing her friend Cynthia Wachenheim, right, insisting that she would not have killed herself if it weren;t for mental illness
In reaction to the tragedy, Elie Mystal, a writer for the popular legal blog Above the Law, penned a controversial op-ed piece calling Wachenheim 'evil' and 'selfish,' and insisting that she was not a victim.
'Screw this woman,' Mystal raged. 'Don’t let the fancy law degree and respectable job fool you; she’s a monster.'
On Friday, Wachenheim's childhood friend Elizabeth Nowicki, a visiting professor at Boston University School of Law, came to her defense, calling Mystal's portrayal of the woman 'gravely inaccurate.'
Nowicki, who attended Columbia Law School with Wachenheim, described her as the 'anti-lawyer' who was far more concerned with serving the public than with using her Ivy League degree to earn millions of dollars.
'She was a very gentle, quiet, loving, kind woman,' Nowicki wrote. 'She was both brilliant and rational.'
It has been reported that the 44-year-old mother, who had been suffering from acute postpartum depression, left a 13-page suicide note blaming herself for what she believed to be her son's developmental disabilities.
Even though doctors found nothing wrong with the toddler, Wachenheim was convinced that her child was suffering from seizures because she had failed to stop him from falling on two occasions.
In his article criticizing the mother, Mystal wrote that even though Wachenheim earned a $120,000 annual salary as a lawyer with the New York State Supreme court, she had refused to seek treatment for her mental problems.
Speculation: Nowicki, who is not a trained mental health professional, suggested that her friend's suicide might have been caused by an undiagnosed postpartum psychosis
'We’re not talking about a person who couldn’t afford a shrink or medication or whatever the hell else she needed to convince her to NOT selfishly try to take the life of her own child,' the blogger wrote.
But according to the attorney's long-time friend, Wachenheim would have never tried to kill herself or hurt her baby if it were not for a very severe mental illness.
Nowicki, who noted that she is not a trained mental health professional, believes based on her research into the subject that her friend likely had a misdiagnosed postpartum psychosis rather than depression or anxiety.
WAS MOTHER'S SUICIDE CAUSED BY POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSIS?
Postpartum Psychosis is a rare illness, compared to the rates of postpartum depression or anxiety. It occurs in approximately 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 deliveries, or approximately .1 per cent of births.
Symptoms of postpartum psychosis can include:
- Delusions or strange beliefs
- Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there)
- Feeling very irritated
- Hyperactivity
- Decreased need for or inability to sleep
- Paranoia and suspiciousness
- Rapid mood swings
- Difficulty communicating at times
Of the women who develop a postpartum psychosis, there is a 5 per cent infanticide or suicide rate associated with the illness.
The woman experiencing psychosis is experiencing a break from reality. In her psychotic state, the delusions and beliefs make sense to her.
Source: Postpartum.net
In support of her opinion, the law professor pointed out that Wachenheim's suicide letter has been described in media reports as 'incoherent,' even though she had been known in her circle as an extremely rational person.
'She wrote for judges for a living,' Nowicki went on to say. 'If she were in her right mind, the missive would not be "incoherent."'
Suzanne Lamendola, who said she was Wachenheim's neighbor and friend for many years, sounded a similar note in a message posted on Nowicki's Facebook page Thursday.
'The Wachenheims are the sweetest family and Cindy was one of the most sweet, brilliantly intelligent, funny, witty women I could ever imagine,' she wrote.
On Thursday, Wachenheim's husband, Hal Bacharach, told the New York Times over the phone that he was 'absolutely overwhelmed by grief.'
'I have my son, who was lucky enough to survive, in my lap... It’s unbelievable. Right now my crying son is in my arms.'
Bacharach spoke to the Times as it was revealed that his wife had left a 13-page suicide note where she blamed herself for supposed developmental disabilities that she noticed in her son.
In a note written on lined notebook paper, she wrote about 'two shameful incidents' including a fall the boy took from a Gymini play set onto the wood floor as well as another tumble off a bed.
She said she believed those falls contributed to a 'series of concussions and seizures that aggravated or contributed to maladies that would harm him for the rest of his life,' according to the Times.
She said her friends and the baby's pediatrician did not believe anything was wrong with the child. But she felt certain that he was developmentally disabled, she wrote.
Horrific scene: The 45-year-old woman's body was covered with a white sheet outside 102 Bradhurst Avenue after she leaped to her death with her son in her arms
Silver lining: The woman was pronounced dead at the scene in an apparent suicide, but her 10-month-old son is expected to survive
A relative of the couple's said Wachenheim was prescribed to medication that she refused to take.
'Hal has been at a loss at how to deal with this,' the relative said of the husband. 'She wouldn’t take her medication. She wouldn’t go to her appointments. She was basically out of control. He worried that she was sinking — but I don’t think he ever saw her capable of this.'
Wachenheim - who was also known as Cindy - was clutching her son to her chest when her back hit the pavement. On impact, the baby bounced out of her motionless arms and started wailing. The child survived the fall because his mother's body served as a cushion from the hard pavement. He suffered only minor injuries.
A window to her upper Manhattan apartment was wide open, and there were no signs of struggle inside, police said. There were no safety bars on the apartment's windows.
Neighbor Steven Dominguez, 18, was walking to a grocery store with his mother, Adelina Dominguez, when he saw the woman fall.
‘I heard a small scream when she was in the air, and then I heard a nasty bang,’ he told DNAInfo.com. ‘It sounded like a big piece of wood hitting the ground.
When he approached Wachenheim on the ground, he saw the baby crying on the sidewalk.
‘I was shocked,’ he said. ‘I couldn't believe it.’
He said his mother went to pick up the baby but an emergency response person told her to stand back.
Evidence: Police found a seven-page suicide note inside the home written by the distraught mother saying that what she was about to do was 'evil'
Site of tragedy: The woman jumped to her death from her apartment in the upscale building at 147th Street and Bradhurst Avenue
A pair of cops happened to be sitting in a squad car near the scene and also witnessed the fall.
A neighbor told The New York Post Wachenheim was heard arguing with her husband, 48-year-old Hal Bacharach, at the upscale The Sutton co-op at 147th Street and Bradhurst Avenue at around 1pm.
The man was seen on surveillance video leaving the apartment building after the argument.
About two hours later, at 3.25pm, witnesses saw Wachenheim leaping from her eighth-story apartment window with her son in her arms.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbors say baby Keston is the couple’s only child together and Wachenheim was thought to have been suffering from severe postpartum depression.
The 44-year-old is said to have left a rambling, incoherent 13-page suicide note in which she referred to her failings as a mother.
Sources told the New York Daily News: 'The note said she was not happy and she talked about what she planned to do.'
In the note, Wachenheim is 'saying to her husband, "I love you. I'm making you suffer. You’re going to think I’m evil",' a source said.
'She thinks she’s a failing mother. On the last page, she refers to postpartum depression. She was supposed to see a therapist, but she blew him off.
'As the note goes on, you get the idea she’s explaining why she’s going to do it,' the source added.
The note also referred to a handicap that Keston was suffering from and said she was worried about how he was developing.
It is unclear if the baby had any mental or physical problems but a law enforcement official told the Daily News that though Wachenheim was convinced her son had cerebral palsy, doctors said there was nothing wrong with him.
Horrified witnesses: Steven Dominguez, 18, left, described hearing a scream coming from the woman before she hit the ground, and his mother, Adelina, right, said how she rushed to her side and tried to pick up the baby
Police say the child is being treated at Harlem Hospital Center and is expected to survive.
Neighbor Christina Johnson told the New York Times the victim and her family had lived in the building for about three years, and she had never heard the parents fight until today.
Johnson said she heard Bacharach yelling at his wife, asking her over and over again why she wouldn't pick up the phone.
Police said they had never been called to the $300,000 apartment before.
Wachenheim, a high school valedictorian in Albany and a Columbia Law graduate, was on maternity leave from her $118,000-a-year job in the city court system.
She worked there for more than 15 years doing research and writing for judges. She was also said to be an associate court attorney.
Resident Yaa Dwamena, 32, said she’s lived in the building for several years and as long as she’s been there she’s seen Wachenheim.
'She was very nice, very friendly, very warm,' Dwamena said.
She said that the last time she saw Wachenheim was last week.
'I wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong with her,' she said. 'They were a happy-looking family. I wouldn’t think anything like this would happen.'
Wachenheim' father was a state police spokesman before his death in 2011. She worked in state Supreme Court in Manhattan doing legal research for judges, court officials said.
'We are all deeply saddened about this tragic incident,' state courts spokesman David Bookstaver said. 'Our thoughts are with Ms. Wachenheim’s family.'
- For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. In the U.S. call the National suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-825
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Fc4WTb2xtZ3Ouu7W0yJpkkJmTnbKvtMSipGZ%2Bop6yr7DSZqOar6mav265zq2fnqpdn8KuvMSdZJ2dkam1bq7Am7Bmm5%2Bism6wxJ%2Bcp6uVYrqiuMRmmaWnl5yys3nArauam5uoere1wq2gpmWVq7atedKeo5%2Bho517qcDMpQ%3D%3D