High-society millionaire is jailed for killing autistic son in hotel room

A high-society millionaire who fatally drugged her autistic child five years ago in a luxury New York City hotel room has been sentenced to 18 years in prison by a judge who said he disbelieved much of her defence and scolded her for not showing remorse.

Gigi Jordan, a nurse-turned-pharmaceutical-entrepreneur, claimed her son Jude Mirra had been sexually abused for years by his biological father and other men in her life. She argued she killed the boy in February 2010 to keep him safe from her ex-husband who was planning to kill her and take her money, leaving Jude defenseless to more sexual torture. She then said she tried to kill herself.

But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon on Thursday dismissed the notion that her nearly mute, autistic child was repeatedly abused, noting time and again that no credible evidence on the record substantiated those claims.

“All of her money, all of her resources, she decided to kill him,” he said. “There were so many things she could have done.”

Though charged with murder, a jury in November found her guilty of a lesser manslaughter charge, deciding she was under “extreme emotional disturbance” when she gave Jude Mirra the fatal dose of Ambien and Xanax, believing killing him was the only way to save him.

Solomon also said he didn’t believe her suicide attempt was genuine and admonished her for giving an interview to the Dr Phil Show while the jury was deliberating. And he wondered why she wasn’t more repentant.