Effexor: Mother sets fire to house: two children are dead

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Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:06:46 -0400

Subject:Effexor: Mother sets fire to house: two children are dead

 

First, the mother is taking Effexor and attempts suicide because she

had a fight with a neighbor about a dog. Then she sets fire to her

house. Two children dead: The National Tragedies continue.

 

Rosie

 

This article also states: " Cesatis described how he and Trooper Jill

Mahady brought Hirt to the Lehighton barracks for questioning on Feb.

26, the day after the fire, and recalled Hirt's strange behavior,

which included an animated discussion of a music poster that hung in

her daughter's room, and a request to hold hands with the troopers to

pray for her children. "

 

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_1childdeathsoct19,0,4608449.story?coll==a\

ll-newslocal-hed

 

Psychiatrist: Mom was depressed

Hearing held for Polk woman charged in fire death of her children.

 

By Matt Birkbeck

Of The Morning Call

 

A Monroe County woman accused of setting a house fire Feb. 25 that

killed her two children had been under psychiatric care for five

months preceding the blaze, her doctor testified during a pre-trial

hearing in Stroudsburg on Monday.

 

Dr. Ilan Levinson, a psychiatrist and medical director of the mental

health unit at Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital in Lehighton, said

Samantha J. Hirt, 28, was admitted to the hospital in September 2003

following an apparent suicide attempt.

 

Hirt, of 74 Pine Lane in the El-Do Lakes development in Polk Township,

had overdosed on Effexor, an anti-depressant, said Levinson, and she

remained at the hospital for five days.

 

Levinson said Hirt suffered from depression and he continued to treat

her following her discharge on Sept. 18, 2003, through January. One

month later Hirt was charged with two counts each of homicide and

arson after her two children, Sarah C. Hirt, 3, and Matthew R. Hirt,

2, were found dead in Sarah's bedroom after a fire gutted much of the

house.

 

Hirt's mental condition was the primary topic during the hearing

before Monroe County President Judge Ronald Vican to consider a

request by Hirt's attorney, J. Michael Sheldon, for a change of venue

and suppression of evidence, including Hirt's statement that she may

have accidentally caused the fire.

 

Levinson said after her suicide attempt he treated Hirt four times in

his Stroudsburg office, and with each visit she appeared to be ''much

better,'' so much so that he reduced her medication.

 

Levinson said in addition to depression, Hirt had issues involving her

family and neighbors. Her overdose followed a run-in with a neighbor

over a dog, said Levinson.

 

Hirt continually reached for tissues during the testimony of David B.

Cesatis, a deputy fire marshal with state police in Hazleton.

 

Cesatis described how he and Trooper Jill Mahady brought Hirt to the

Lehighton barracks for questioning on Feb. 26, the day after the fire,

and recalled Hirt's strange behavior, which included an animated

discussion of a music poster that hung in her daughter's room, and a

request to hold hands with the troopers to pray for her children.

 

''She was unfocused'' and ''unemotional,'' said Cesatis.

 

Cesatis said after an initial examination of the home he ruled out any

accidental cause. It was during his questioning of Hirt and her

statement that the fire was no higher than knee high that he became

suspicious of her, said Cesatis.

 

''I thought if the fire was only knee high any mother would have run

into that room,'' he said.

 

Hirt has told varying stories of what happened that day. She first

told police that she was sitting on a couch in her living room when

she heard her daughter call out for her. When she got to her room and

opened the door she was met by a ''wall of fire.''

 

She also said she lit a cigarette in her daughter's room and may have

''inadvertently'' ignited a SpongeBob SquarePants hamper that hung on

the door.

 

Prosecutors say Hirt intentionally set fire to the hamper, closed the

door, then went outside to smoke a cigarette.

 

Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine is seeking the

death penalty.

 

Hirt's family ­ including her husband, Christopher; father, and two

sisters ­ along with several supporters and members of the clergy, sat

in the courtroom. Following the hearing they issued a statement

claiming the district attorney was seeking the death penalty ''based

entirely on circumstantial evidence.''

 

''It's disgusting,'' said Christopher Hirt.

 

Vican said he will address the requests for suppression of evidence

and change of venue in two months after briefs are filed.

 

The trial is expected to begin next spring.

 

matthew.birkbeck

 

610-379-3222

 

2004, The Morning Call