By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The 15-year-old Morton boy locked up for allegedly stabbing his mother told police he was upset, that she’d laughed about him twice to other people that afternoon and he’d had enough.
She told him to get a towel to wrap around her arm, and he did, according to court documents. But after 35-year-old Rhiannon Foister went downstairs to the living room, fell beneath a table and told him to get her something to put on her wounds, he told her no, that he wanted her to hurt like he had for the past 15 years, the documents state.
And the teen walked out the door to stand in the driveway to wait for police.
Morton Police Department Police Chief Dan Mortensen said he was called around 3:35 p.m. Monday to the home at the 800 block of Overlook Drive in the East Lewis County town. The boy told the chief he stabbed his mother and so he was handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol car, according to the documents.
His brother and sister were home when it happened. Foister was transported to Morton General Hospital and then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for additional treatment.
A hospital spokesperson said yesterday morning Foister was listed in satisfactory condition.
The teen was booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, and charged on Tuesday with second-degree assault.
A juvenile court judge at a detention hearing the same day ordered him held at least until his arraignment next Tuesday, according to Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.
That’s also when a trial date and pre-trial hearing will be scheduled, Meagher said.
Court documents, based on the police reports, indicate the police chief recovered a knife about 14 inches long which the boy said he’d gotten out of the kitchen.
Mortensen told Meagher the mother had five to seven stab wounds, including one to her chest, but he had yet to get a full statement from her.
The documents give the following account, mostly from the 15-year-old’s conversation with police:
The boy said he’d called his mother from school, to ask if he could walk his girlfriend home from school and then walk the rest of the way home, but she said no, she’d pick him up and did so.
That upset him, and then his mother was talking with another mother, and laughing about him not being able to walk his girlfriend home, he told police.
“She said he was going to be turned in to his juvenile probation officer for violating his conditions of release,” the boy related.
Once they got home, the two continued their disagreement, and after he went upstairs to his room, he could hear his mother talking on the phone to someone else, laughing and saying she was going to call his probation officer, he said.
The boy told police he’d had enough.
He went into the living room and told his siblings to leave, because he and his mother were going to have serious conversation.
He asked his mother to walk to her bedroom, where she sat down on the bed and they faced off.
“(He) stated he pulled out the knife and wanted to scare her and show her how serious he was,” court documents state. “He stated he hadn’t intended to stab her with it, only to scare her.”
His mother said go ahead and stab her, if that’s what he was going to do, the boy related to police.
The teen paused and began crying, but after encouraged by the officer to continue, said he lunged at his mom and stabbed her in the arm. She moved away, and he stabbed her in the leg. They continued yelling at each other.
“He added he knew what was happening but was also kind of blacked out,” the documents state.
The siblings came to see what the yelling and screaming was about, and they all ended up back down stairs.
Mortensen describes he and a deputy responding, and arriving to find one juvenile throwing items around the porch saying he was going to kill the boy for stabbing his mother, seeing a pool of blood around Foister’s feet, and then a girl who helped the chief put direct pressure on a towel on Foister’s leg while he spoke with a 911 dispatcher to get aid.
The teen told the chief his probation was for smoking pot and truancy.
The boy told police he went outside to wait for police, and also said he didn’t want to remain inside and watch his mother bleed out.
Chief Mortensen on Tuesday morning described the reason for the assault only as “family issues, apparently”.
The boy is represented by Centralia attorney David Brown.
He’s 15, so he will not automatically sent to adult court, according to Meagher.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I was wondering if “What?” who write he/she did not have a father and turned out “just fine” (I guess, if you don’t count being judgmental).
Did you have mental illness? Was it left untreated? Did you have addict parents? Did they abuse you emotionally, despite your mental illness? Did you also have addiction? Were you living in poverty?
If so, then your judgmental attitude is a fairly small flaw. But if you did not have all he had/has… why ARE you so judgmental? And how will punishment “help” this guy? Or maybe … it helps you somehow?
I actually agree he needs to be in jail and not babied. I never said he shouldn’t. I was simply giving back story. Hopefully with time served and medication he can overcome a lot of the demons that are currently plaguing him. Both parties are to blame for different things. Hopefully moving forward this devastating situation will change both for the better.
I am tired of people pulling the “Oh he didn’t have a father figure which is why he turned out this way.” BS, I grew up without a father and I have never been in any trouble with the law other than a speeding ticket. These punks use it as an excuse for their behavior.
You are 1000% correct Myndee!!
This little con artist needs to face reality, quit being coddled and accept responsibility. The mother sounds as if she was coddled as a child also.
Be a parent and these things do not happen to your kids. Being their friend will cause these things.
You people who are condemning this child really should check your facts before you speak . I know this is an unspeakable crime. One that I cannot imagine . Attempted Matricide is about the worst. I felt like you do. I met this child a couple years ago. He was quiet and respectful to me. I could not believe he could do this. His childhood has been a very poorly kept secret , and I have heard from many in the last few days since this happened and what I have managed to find out is almost and I mean almost everybody , adults and his peers said she deserved whatever she got. I could not personally ever imagine a situation where I would stab anyone , unless a childs life was in danger, that said, my 17 year old softhearted Granddaughter just told me ” Grandma if you knew and saw the things this woman has done to her children you would stab her yourself “. To call this woman a mother is a gross misuse of the term mother. If half of what I have heard from all the kids in this area , and I am talking between Randle and Morton, is true maybe my Grandchild is right. We think what we do in our homes is private but if we have children we are sadly mistaken. They talk to their friends and their teachers . All I can say I hope this woman gets investigated and I hope this child gets some help. Another thing if all these people who told me what they know , or saw would write a deposition , it might help Daryn finally get some help. If my grandchildren know what a monster this woman is ,someone else must know too. The abuse of this child and his siblings has been ongoing for years , speak up people !
Look that mother isnt a bad one at all get over your selfs if you think she is if your on probion you are limatied todo anything and the parents have to force it and if the parent doesnt they get into truble so she doesnt want to get into truble when i was on probaion when i was a kid i wasnt alowd to skip school or smoke weed hang out with serton people so she is doing want the probation person said and her laughing at him he could be making that up i did this kind of stuff when i was a kid but not stabing my mom and i have by- poler so no i dont belive she was i belive that brat wasnt getting his way and he going to do something bout it
Did I miss a post? I do not see where Erika stated he derved to be free.
Nor did I see where she claimed the assault was justified given the teen’s history.
What she did offer was some insight into the mental history of the child and parents. An individual that cuts themselves clearly needs severe HELP.
Consider yourself blessed if your parents cared enough to teach you right from wrong. Households lacking this structure are too common. Combined with mental diagnoses you have ticking timebomb. Judge me all you want, but I feel more empathy for child than I do the “victim”
I don’t care if he was,diagnosed with bi=polar or not years ago before bi=polar and adhd and all that were not we’ll known about and counseling wasn’t used. There were plenty of us that needed counseling and medication and still maybe now need therapy, but kids were taught right from wrong and if we were caught skipping school and smoking pot we would of got a a@@ whooping and grounded and we never would of thought about lashing out at a parent or elder and being disrespectful to any adult including a parent that made us mad, and just because one didnt have a dad around since a toddler is no excuse for a child throwing a fit because he could’nt walk his girlfriend home,he was in trouble for skipping school and smoking pot,and his mother has the right and responsibility to tell him no he was in trouble and rightly so, and he would’nt even help her after he stabbed her and he went outside to wait for police.. cause he didnt want to see her bleed out.. being diagnosed with bi=polar or depression or adhd is no excuse to stab anyone and then to act and not help her.. sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing see stabbing her once ..but to repeatedly stab her sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing sorry erika your not getting sympathy from me for that out right dangerous brat ya lets let him out so he can go on to kill and god knows what next…he needs to not be babied when you break the law and have no regard too it let alone stab your mom.. hello!!!!!
A mother should NEVER laugh at and belittle her child he might have issues he might be doing the wrong things but people can only take so much before they snap.
Sounds like a shit hole Mother to me.. Mothers are like that tho.. they are not all good but they play the “i gave birth” card … That doesnt make you a mother . just means you gave birth… seems to me the Boy has had a llot of Mental Abuse over the Years
Somehow, this strikes me as being the “all bad child” of a mom with borderline personality disorder. Clearly the mom engaged in mentally abusive behavior. No excuse for what he did though.
Really John? A “real” mom? You are a little gem of a person aren’t you…
maybe before you classify him as a punk kid you should know the facts and also know there are two sides to everything. This is my family. The accounts are not accurate. Yes no excuse for physical violence but when a child is not given medication when diagnosed as bipolar and should have been in inpatient care for major depression instead was written off many years prior. As parents it is our obligation to nurture and guide or children by example. This wasn’t and has never been the case in this house. Dead beat dad hadn’t been in the picture since toddler age. Both parents suffer from extreme depression. No physical harm should ever be used on anyone but when you are battling internal demons and you are not given medication prior than you are very likely to snap. Both parties are victims in their own way but when a mother has played the victim card her whole life and put her own needs selfishly in front of her kids then some sort of tragity was bound to happen. Iwhen he started cutting himself and acting out in school many years prior he should have been put into counseling and on meds. Sad event that was completely preventable.
Maybe this kid just watched to much TV and had too many Glasses of Fluoridated water.
There is no excuse for this level of violence, none. This punk may not have had the best, most nurturing environment growing up but stabbing your mother is heinous to say the least. Adult action deserve adult consequences.
Why not turn him loose until his sorry butt kills someone.
Sound like a problem that started with the teen skipping school and smoking pot. Maybe the mom should have been a real mom and stopped all of this before it got this far.
Charge him as an adult, then he will learn real criminal ways at “Gladiator school” in Clallam bay.