Mom in court on charges she threw son off bridge

A woman who called 911 to report she had thrown her 6-year-old autistic son off the Yaquina Bay Bridge to his death made her first court appearance Tuesday.

Lincoln County Circuit Court officials said 34-year-old Jillian McCabe of Seal Rock entered no pleas to charges of aggravated murder, murder, and manslaughter. The case has yet to go to a grand jury.

Police arrested McCabe Monday evening at the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport.

KGW reports McCabe told police that she heard voices in her head telling her to throw the boy off the bridge.

A probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday in Lincoln County Circuit Court in Newport says Jillian McCabe told the dispatcher: “I just threw my son over the Yaquina Bay Bridge.”

She described her son, London, and the clothes he was wearing, saying he was in the water and gone.

Several months ago, she had written an Internet appeal for money to help care for her autistic son and disabled husband, who could no longer support their family.

Andrew McCabe confirmed Tuesday that his sister-in-law had written an appeal on YouCaring.com. In it she described caring for her autistic son, London, and her husband, Matt, who has been unable to work since developing multiple sclerosis and a mass on his brain stem.

Court-appointed defense attorneys Christopher Clayhold and Deborah Burdzick did not immediately return calls for comment.

A vigil is planned Saturday for Landon McCabe Saturday evening at Clear Rogue Ales Brewery on the Bay in Newport from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A Facebook page about the event said, “We will gather as friends, as family, to honor the life of London who was taken from us way too soon.”

Supporters are encouraged to wear a hat of any kind to honor London, because he especially loved hats. Balloons will also be released in his name at 7 p.m.