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RIVER GROVE, IL, June 13, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A 14-year-old severely autistic boy has died after his mother and caregiver decided that his “emotional condition had deteriorated” and made him unfit to live.

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After failing to kill the 200-pound boy with an overdose of sleeping pills, the women took a kitchen knife to him, stabbing him four times in the chest and twice in the heart.

They also slit one of his wrists, nearly severing his hand.

Alex Spourdalakis died on Sunday.

The women then killed the family cat, after which they attempted to commit suicide with sleeping pills.

In their suicide letter, the women said they did not want the cat to be sent to a shelter after their deaths.

But the women did not die. A suicide pact by the women included signed statements in which the women admitted their guilt in the murder.

The child’s mother, Dorothy Spourdalakis, 50, and the caregiver, Jolanta Agata Skrodzka, 44, were both charged with first-degree murder after the boy’s father found the women locked in a bedroom in a semi-conscious state, reported the Chicago Tribune.

“The murder was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Maureen O’Brien said to reporters.

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The boy’s parents had previously separated.

Caregiver Skrodzka was the boy’s godmother.

After their arrest, the women told investigators that Alex’s needs were too much for them to meet and that they had wanted to put an end to Alex’s suffering themselves.

The boy’s mother had made a public appeal earlier this year through the YouTube Autism Media Channel to ask for help for her son after she said the medical profession failed him.

“He needs something simple, in the country, where he can run around, get the treatment that he needs so he can get better,” she said.

The Autism Media Channel stated in a press release, “We have tried to highlight the desperate plight of Alex and his family and bring to public attention the failings of the medical system when trying to deal with individuals like Alex.”

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Alex, a bright 14-year-old that had so much potential,” it said. “Alex just needed appropriate medical care and somewhere safe to live.”

“We are aware of many families in a similar state of crisis and our fear is that more cases like Alex will follow,” the group stated.

The women, who are on suicide watch, made an appearance inside a Cook County courthouse in Maywood yesterday.