Left: Kathryn Garaas (KRTV). Right: Reign Blair (GoFundMe).
A Montana woman allegedly suffocated her 5-year-old son to death with a plastic bag because she wanted to “save him because things would have only gotten so much worse.”
Kathryn Garaas stands accused of deliberate homicide in the death of Reign Tyler Blair at their home near Whitehall, which is some 60 miles northwest of Bozeman.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff”s Office, deputies responded on the afternoon of April 24 to the home for a medical emergency. A probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by local CBS affiliate KRTV stated the boy’s father asked for a welfare check on the boy when she received a disturbing text message from Garaas.
When Garaas opened the door for deputies she told them “he’s in his room.”
Deputies went to the boy’s room to find a plastic bag over his head, the affidavit reportedly said. He was dead.
Garaas reportedly told cops she killed her son because she felt she had to “save him because things would have only gotten so much worse.”
Colleen Much, who started a GoFundMe account on behalf of Reign’s family, said in an interview with KRTV that Garaas was previously separated from the family. But Garaas had been staying with the boy and his father for weeks leading up to the murder without incident.
“I cannot and will absolutely not pretend to claim we have even a remote understanding of the reasoning behind this, or what occurred,” Much wrote in the description. “We pray for answers that may never come, and when they do, no healing will come of it.”
Much called Reign a “precious, innocent, perfect, beautiful little light” who was raised by his father.
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“Reign is his purpose, his love, and his life from the moment he took his first breath,” Much wrote. “There are no words for the kind of strength it takes for a man to be a single father, and the life he built for Reign is one we take solace in knowing was fulfilled with love, laughter, and precious joy.”
Garaas is at the Jefferson County Jail without bond. Her next court date is set for June 10.
