Mom who watched YouTube conspiracy videos admits killing 9-year-old son to ‘protect him’

A mom in Washington state allegedly told police she strangled her 9-year-old son to death on Halloween to “protect him” from people who were following them.

The mother, 47-year-old Amber Lynn James, apparently watched conspiracy videos on YouTube about politics and “chemtrails,” the contrails expelled by jets that some people believe the government is using to secretly spray chemicals in the sky to control people’s minds and the weather.

James believed she was being followed, the Kitsap Sun in Seattle reported, so much so that she called 911 to complain about people tailing her in cars and airplanes.

The videos “seemed to have created some anxiety for her,” a detective noted in court documents. She also told police she had used marijuana the night before and was taking prescription drugs for anxiety.

James was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, according to KCPQ in Seattle.

She was taken to the hospital for a mental and physical evaluation and that’s where, according to local media, she told a deputy she killed her son, Ryan Rosales, by choking him until he could no longer breathe. An autopsy determined asphyxia was the cause of death.

Court documents obtained by the TV station reveal that James, unsolicited, told a deputy that she needed to save her son and protect him from people who were after them. She told the deputy Ryan was the best kid in the world and that she had prayed and cried before she put her hands around his neck and choked the life out of him.

She allegedly asked the deputy, “how do I explain to someone why I just f***ing killed my kid? What is a good explanation of that? I killed my f***ing kid.”

Ryan was found dead in his bed early Tuesday morning by his father, James Rosales, who told police he was taking a shower about 6 a.m. when he smelled gas in the house and found the stove’s four burners on but not lit.

When he asked James about it he noticed scratches on her neck.

Then, when he went into his son’s bedroom to give him a kiss, he found him cold and unresponsive. He called 911. Paramedics could not revive him and he died at the scene. Suspicious of what they saw, paramedics called police.

Local media reported that detectives found writing on the walls of the room where Ryan died, words and phrases including “Harvest,” “Greed kills,” “Sex Trade,” “God is coming,” and “Michael=Devil.”

Court documents indicate that when James was taken in for questioning she had garlic cloves, two lighters and a small vial of holy water.

She told detectives she had used the water to “say a prayer for my baby.”

James, who is being held in the Kitsap County Jail on a $1 million bond, is due back in court on Friday.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help Ryan’s father pay for the funeral.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Mom who watched YouTube conspiracy videos admits killing 9-year-old son to ‘protect him’."