Olathe mom gave her children meds to kill them, court docs say; $1 million bond set

An Olathe woman was charged Wednesday with giving her three children a non-prescribed medication to try to kill them.

Therese Roever, 37, was charged in Johnson County District Court with one count of attempted capital murder. In Kansas, killing more than one person at the same time is one of the crimes that qualify as capital murder.

Roever made an initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon and a public defender was appointed to represent her. She was wearing what is known as a suicide smock or safety suit. She remains in jail with a bond of $1 million and is scheduled back in court March 1.

The children’s father declined to comment, but released a statement through Randy McCalla, his attorney: “Thankfully the children are recovering and should be returning home very soon.”

Roever was arrested Monday night after police were called to her home in the 1700 block of N. Lennox St.

Officers found her and the children in need of medical attention, and police said the children had ingested something that had been meant to harm them.

According to Johnson County court records, Roever and her former husband were involved in litigation over custody of the children, twins born in 2010 and a son born in 2012.

He had residential custody of the children, but she was allowed to have unsupervised visitation as of a November court order.

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Olathe mom gave her children meds to kill them, court docs say; $1 million bond set."