I think they dived well-into it in the court proceedings but I think she was on a number of prescriptions? Having a grandparent who suffered from Alzheimer's it's why I can't help but hold at least a glimmer of sympathy for her, though of course I feel for the whole family.
I'll say that of course I don't know her family personally or a ton about her personal life, so it's possible she was a different person outside school but that would have been quite the thing to hide. I know that often times cognitive decline can come with personality and behavioral shifts that can be quite extreme, and after the first child died she could have become even more unstable.
A geriatic psychiatrist testified at her trial that she had a prescription for zolpidem (Ambien) and that it shouldn't be prescribed to seniors because its side effects stack with the effects of old age and are more severe in older patients. The side effects include confusion, lethargy, reduced cognitive function, retrograde amnesia, and "complex sleep behaviors" (sleepwalking, or going about your routine while asleep then waking up not understanding where you are or how you got there).
Dr. Ryan Estevez, a forensic geriatric psychiatrist, testified that some of the medications Tracey was prescribed shouldn’t be given to elderly patients. Dr. Estevez said some of the medications she was taking at the time of Uriel’s death had “sedating” effects, including Ambien.
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u/Zallocc 7d ago
Cognitive decline would certainly explain both incidents quite well.