Law&Crime Sidebar - Mom of 12-Year-Old Girl Who Admitted to Stabbing Brother to Death Breaks Silence

Episode Date: June 3, 2023

The heartbroken mother of the 12-year-old Oklahoma girl who confessed to stabbing her 9-year-old brother to death is speaking out about the tragic incident. April Lyda revealed red flags in her daughter’s behavior prior to the deadly stabbing. Lyda expressed she is standing by her daughter, who has been “well behaved” in lock up, during this challenging time. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the horrifying story with Dr. Angela Arnold, a psychiatrist specializing in mental health.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. I'm sorry. Come here. Come here. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm just going to put handcuffs on just for now. on body camera after she stabs her younger brother to death what her mother is now saying about the unimaginable and heartbreaking situation thanks for joining us here on law and crime for the sidebar podcast I'm anginette levy this stabbing happened in January at a home in Tulsa oklahoma the 12-year-old

girl whose name has not been released publicly admitted to stabbing her nine-year-old brother zander in his bed. As you saw, the girl can be seen on-body camera video running out of the house, admitting to stabbing her brother and apologizing. Her mother, April Lida, enters the video here. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. How old are I'm 12 years old. Where's the knife? I was upstairs in my room and I threw it off the window. And he's behind the apartment right here.

You threw it where? He threw it out my window upstairs. Not right there. It's the room. It's the other room. It's right behind the apartment. This apartment right here. So where would the knife be on that side?

Behind, right behind, yeah. I'm so sorry, Mama. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happens. It's something motic. I'm so sorry. What's your monkey? Zander died.

at the hospital from several stab wounds to the chest, and April Lida is standing by her daughter. On a GoFundMe page set up by friends, Zander was described as the sweetest boy who loved to ride his bike, play fortnight, and run errands with his mom. Lida is standing by her daughter, saying she was a well-behaved child with no prior history of behavioral problems, and that she was put on a medication that she was off of for more than a year. But Lida says it was not a psychiatric medication. She said she couldn't go into detail about it. She also disputed that her daughter is a so-called cutter. Was she able to tell you what led to her stabbing him?

She has no idea why she did it. She's heartbroken and she feels very guilty, but she still doesn't understand why she did it. She said it was like it wasn't her. And the team of specialists working with her, they believe her after working with her for the last six months. every day. And I believe her too because I know my child that I know that wasn't her. Joining me to discuss this incredibly sad case is Dr. Angela Arnold, she is a psychiatrist

based in Atlanta. Dr. Arnold, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Dr. Arnold, this case is just heartbreaking. Your thoughts upon learning of some of the things that April Leida is claiming about her daughter, the fact that she had these old cuts, she was off of a medication, what are your thoughts? Well, it's very concerning. First of all, she's only 12 years old. It's difficult to treat young girls that are that age. You have to be very careful about the different kinds of medicines you give them, and they can cause different side effects. It was, we've heard that this little girl suffers, she was diagnosed with ADHD, so attention deficit, some sort of,

of attention deficit disorder so you're to assume that she was put on an amphetamine for that okay that's how we treat attention deficit disorder okay i'm also assuming that she was having some sort of side effects with that medication in the in her past treatment because they took her off of it for a year and then they say they put her back on it and she had some more side effects from it but she was not on the medication when this, when this incident occurred in which she killed her brother. So what does that lead you to believe? Because stimulants are commonly used to treat ADHD, attention, deficit, hyperactivity disorder. There are some non-stimulate medications. They're not revealing the actual medication that she was on and then off of. So what does

this lead you to believe then? Well, she wasn't on the medication at the time that this occurred. It's what they're describing could be a brief psychotic episode. She could have had a brief psychotic episode in which she went outside of herself and went in and she didn't know what she was doing and she killed her brother. But you can't link that to a medication that she was not on. It cannot be linked to a medication that she was not on. It could be linked to a very stressful life event. If something stressful had happened in the home, that is the biggest cause of a brief

psychotic event, okay? It can also be linked to illicit drugs, cocaine, LSD, heroin, and PCP, those things can all cause a brief psychotic event. But if she was not on a medication for her ADD or ADHD, whichever one she had been diagnosed with, then that medication would not have caused this behavior in her. let's listen to a clip from this interview that april lida did with chris quomo on his news nation show about what she explains aprilita basically explains what she believed happened let's listen help me understand so she was on an ADHD tension deficit hyperactivity disorder very common for parents out there they'll hear about it um they always they come with indications but there's usually guidance about well you may start seeing things Was this part of a downturn or a spiral? Was there any other behavior that gave you any indication that the kid was unstable?

No. She was fine. She wasn't unstable until she was put back on the medication. So she was on the medication. What happened to take her off it? She cut her arms within a month of being back on it. So I immediately took her. off after speaking to the school and her doctor and herself, we had a long conversation.

She said that she felt like she was really irritated, irritable, angry for no reason on the medication. So, of course, I took her off of it. Unfortunately, it was too late. The damage was done. Stuff like this can happen months or even years after being off of a medication like this. Dr. Arnold, what do you make of what April Leida said? I do not believe that the mother can assume that months off of a medication, it can trigger behavior in someone like this, okay? The medicine is out of her system. The medicine does not last for a long time in her system.

And the mother is assuming that a medication went in and did harm to this little girl's brain. However, the mother was also saying that the little girl's behavior up to this point was fine. She was not exhibiting any bad behavior, and she's not exhibiting any bad behavior in prison. So why would you cannot say that this behavior comes and goes off of the medication? You would have more signs and symptoms of that. So I do not believe that the medication that she was off of caused damage to her brain, in other words made her psychotic which then made her kill her brother so what could be going on here it's stunning to me that a 911 call is placed she runs outside i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry

she's apologizing profusely for what she did she knew what she did didn't she it certainly appears so so what do you make of that i have you know i have to wonder why the mother is talking so profusely about her good behavior. I wonder what that's covering up. So does that mean that she's had bad behavior in the past? And does this little girl have a different diagnosis? Is she bipolar? Sometimes bipolar disorder is confused with ADHD, particularly in very young children. Nobody wants to have their child diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but she could have a completely different diagnosis than ADHD. And that could also be why the medication was affecting her so poorly. I have read that in the past, that bipolar disorder and ADHD can sometimes be

confused for one another or misdiagnosed. But does bipolar disorder cause, it does cause manic episodes, but does it cause one to stab someone repeatedly lying in their bed and then run out of the house apologizing about it? Well, it's always going to be hard to determine what she was thinking at that time when this incident occurred. If she had been become manic with her bipolar disorder, you would assume that there had been, that there would have been signs leading up to this of her mania. Just sheer irritability would have been a sign that she was manic. Just irritability. It didn't, it wouldn't have to be anything else. She could have been taking, doing some risky things. But the mother continues to say that the

little girl's behavior was good. It was good. So my, the biggest question I had in my mind is, What made her snap that night? I do not believe it was a medication. I have to wonder if the little girl was taking some sort of drugs that was in the house, or was she mad at her brother and wanted to kill him. That has to be in the differential diagnosis. Had something happened between her and her brother and she wanted to kill her brother. So an impulsive act.

Yes, yes, an impulsive. We all know that most murders happen between love. ones. This is such a sad case. And Dr. Arnold, you know, we want to be clear that you are certainly an expert. You haven't, you know, you're not making a diagnosis of this girl. We're asking you to opine on this. You haven't treated her. But certainly, there are a lot of strange things going on here. And we really appreciate your time and your expertise to discuss this. Is there anything else you'd like to add? I'll give you the last word. So what I want people to know is I'm laying out what we call a differential diagnosis. These are all of the things that you have to look at

when an event like this happens. And I also know that there are a lot of viewers out there that feel that medications are always the evil in this. But that is not the case. When someone comes to the doctor and they need a psychiatric medication or any kind of medication, typically the medication helps the person, okay? And we are not in the business. of giving out medications to help big pharma succeed okay so something had something went wrong with this little girl but we cannot determine if it was simply a medication particularly because she was not on the medication at the time there's so many questions I have as I'm sure you do was she in treatment when was the last time she saw her doctor was she seeing a therapist also we have no

idea what the answer to me if those things are. But it is interesting that they have her in such in such treatment now that she's in confinement. And like you said, I haven't spoken to her. I don't know. But I am trying to lay forth a differential diagnosis, which all of us need to be thinking about. All of these are things that we need to think about in determining what caused us. Well, we will keep an eye on this case. It's incredibly sad. We hope that this young 12-year-old girl gets the help that she needs And our thoughts and prayers are obviously with the family as they mourn the loss of Xander. It's just, this is a no-win situation. It's awful.

And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.