An Auburn mother is accused of destroying evidence and lying to hospital staff and investigators to cover up her boyfriend’s alleged abuse of her two sons, which allegedly resulted in the death last year of her severely autistic, 18-year-old son.
An Auburn mother was charged Tuesday with rendering criminal assistance to her boyfriend, who is to stand trial in December on murder and assault charges for allegedly torturing and abusing her two sons over four months, resulting in the death of her severely autistic 18-year-old son.
Pascia Backman, a former special-education teacher in the Renton School District, was charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance in connection with the April 2014 death of her son, Otto Smith, charging papers say. She was also charged with second-degree rendering criminal assistance for the abuse allegedly suffered by her younger son, which included beatings, forced exercise and hourslong ice baths, according to the charges.
Backman’s boyfriend, Matt Christenson, 43, was charged in January with second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful imprisonment in connection with his treatment of the younger boy, who was 14 when Christenson moved into the family’s Auburn apartment in January 2014, charging papers say.
At the time of his arrest, Christenson was under investigation in connection with Smith’s death — and he was charged with second-degree murder in March, according to the records. He remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail, jail records show.
Most Read Local Stories
A summons has been issued for Backman, 42, to appear for arraignment Oct. 13 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Backman is accused of destroying evidence and lying to hospital staff and death investigators with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office to cover up Christenson’s alleged crimes against her children, charging papers say. She initially claimed Smith was harming himself to explain away his injuries from abuse, and after he died, she said he fell down some stairs, they say.
In August 2014 — four months after Smith died as a result of being beaten, gagged and bound with duct tape — Backman, Christenson and Christenson’s 20-year-old son were each charged with first-degree malicious mischief after allegedly tossing furniture and other belongings off their balcony and trashing their Auburn apartment, court records show.
At that time, Backman told an officer her son had died in April and she thought the apartment was haunted, charging papers say.
“Backman was laughing about the incident and said she didn’t care about the apartment and wanted to move out,” but the manager wouldn’t let her out of her lease, the papers say.
That December, Backman was taken by ambulance to Tacoma General Hospital, where she claimed to be a kidnapping victim before it was revealed that she was trying to leave Christenson, according to the papers. Her doctors connected her with a social worker, who reported that Backman told her Christenson “had killed her 18-year-old autistic son and she (Backman) had helped clean up evidence,” the papers say.
The social worker reported the information to police, and the King County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit opened an investigation into Smith’s death, according to the charges.