Murder Attempt Antidepressant Withdrawal 01/12/1998 Massachusetts Woman Beats & Scalds her Mother
 
 Summary:<br><br>Paragraph two reads:&nbsp; &quot;<strong>A psychiatrist who examined Reida prior to yesterday&#39;s court appearance told Judge Roanne Sragow the suspect was not taking her anti-depression and anti-anxiety medication and had been hearing voices prior to the attack on Jane Sheard.&quot;<br /><br /></strong>________________________________________________________________________<br />Suspect gets psych tests after mom&#39;s brutal attack<br />Boston Herald<br />December 1, 1998<br />Author: BEVERLY FORD <br />Estimated printed pages: 2 <br /><img src="../images.newsbank.com/infoweb/agg/shim.gif" alt="[]" width="1" height="1" /> <br /><br />As her elderly mother clung to life yesterday, 54-year-old <strong>Nancy Reida</strong> stood silently in Cambridge District Court - her eyes vacant and her hair disheveled - while a judge ordered her to undergo psychiatric testing following the brutal beating and scalding of her 85-year-old mom. <br />&quot;The mother has a long road in front of her,&quot; said prosecutor Marian Ryan, following Reida&#39;s arraignment on charges of attempted murder, mayhem and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.<br /><br />A psychiatrist who examined Reida prior to yesterday&#39;s court appearance told Judge Roanne Sragow the suspect was not taking her anti-depression and anti-anxiety medication and had been hearing voices prior to the attack on Jane Sheard.<br /><br />Both Reida&#39;s attorney, David Twohig, and Ryan declined to comment on the suspect&#39;s mental state at the time of Friday&#39;s attack.<br /><br />In court however, Reida appeared distant and unemotional as the charges against her were read.<br /><br />Authorities said Reida allegedly used her hands and feet and a lamp to beat her mother before dousing the elderly woman with scalding water sometime during the late afternoon or early evening.<br /><br />&quot;I guess it went on for awhile,&quot; Arlington Police Lt. Robert White said of the beating. &quot;She had some broken bones.&quot;<br /><br />A motive for the attack remained unclear yesterday.<br /><br />Reida, who listed an address on Cape Cod, had been living with her mother in Arlington for about a year, officials said.<br /><br />During that time, police received no calls for problems at Sheard&#39;s home, authorities said.<br /><br />But on Friday, after a concerned neighbor spoke with Sheard by phone about two hours after the assault, investigators were called to the home.<br /><br />Officers broke down the door and found the elderly woman severely beaten and suffering from first-, second- and third-degree burns.<br /><br />She was listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington yesterday.<br /><br />Reida was arrested by police Saturday morning after she returned to her mother&#39;s residence as police were in the process of obtaining a search warrant.<br /><br />Photo Caption: CHARGED: <strong>Nancy Reida</strong> is arraigned yesterday for the severe beating of her mother. At left, her lawyer, David Twohig, listens to instructions. STAFF PHOTO BY JIM MAHONEY <br />&nbsp; Caption:<br />CHARGED: <strong>Nancy Reida</strong> is arraigned yesterday for the severe beating of her mother. At left, her lawyer, David Twohig, listens to instructions. STAFF PHOTO BY JIM MAHONEY <br />Edition:&nbsp; ALL<br />Section:&nbsp; News<br />Page:&nbsp; 12<br />Copyright 1998 Boston Herald<br />Record Number:&nbsp; BNH12010054 <br /><br />OpenURL Article Bookmark (right click, and copy the link location):<br /><a href="http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&amp;rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:BNHB&amp;rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&amp;rft_dat=0EB41E385838D471&amp;svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&amp;req_dat=0FC00B934DD580D0">Suspect gets psych tests after mom&#39;s brutal attack</a> 
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