Mom Charged With Poisoning Three Children During Contentious Custody Battle

A mother in Kansas has been charged with attempted murder after she allegedly poisoned her three children during a contentious custody battle.

According to the Kansas City Star, authorities arrested Therese Roever, 37, on the night of Monday, Feb. 19 and charged her with one count of attempted capital murder after she allegedly poisoned her three young children.

Rover's arrest came after officers responded to a 911 call Monday night. Upon arriving to the Olathe, Kansas home, authorities discovered Roever and her three children, aged a 7-year-old boy, a 9-year-old boy, and a 9-year-old girl, "requiring medical attention." In a press release, authorities claimed that the children, along with their mother, had ingested something meant to harm them.

All four persons were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated. Roever was taken into police custody upon being discharged and booked into the Johnson County Jail.

"Thankfully the children are recovering and should be returning home very soon," the ex-husband's attorney said.

According to Johnson County court records, Rover and her ex-husband were involved in a contentious custody battle. Roever's ex-husband had primary residential custody of the children, but after a judge ruled that she had been making "fake reports regarding the children," it was ordered that her visitations with the children had to be supervised. In November, however, the order was modified, allowing Roever unsupervised visitations at designated times.

Roever and her ex-husband were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Feb. 20, as part of their ongoing custody battle. The hearing was cancelled and an attorney for Roever's ex-husband filed a request for an "emergency review hearing" on the custody case.

"This motion is based on the fact that petitioner (Roever) has been arrested and booked on three counts of attempted capital murder with the children as victims," Attorney Randy McCalla wrote in the motion.

Roever, who remains in jail with a bond of $1 million, is scheduled to make her next court appearance on March 1.