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PLEASANT GROVE — A Pleasant Grove woman faces domestic violence and assault charges after police say she choked her adult son who has autism and a genetic disorder, and yelled at him to "die."
Gidget Chairmaine Quilter, 42, was charged Monday with one count of domestic violence aggravated assault and four counts of committing domestic violence in the presence of a child, all third-degree felonies, according to charging documents filed in Fourth District Court in Utah County.
She also was charged with one count of misdemeanor assault, according to court documents.
About 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Pleasant Grove police responded to a report of a mother, later identified as Quilter, who had allegedly thrown scissors at her 13-year-old son, charges state.
During the investigation, "the children in the home reported that earlier that day the defendant had choked her adult child, who is disabled," according to charging documents. There were also "four minor children in the residence," when this happened, court documents state.
Officers also obtained an audio recording in which “the mother was clearly recorded making the statement, ‘Die you — die you little (expletive),’” according to a jail report.
Responding "officers observed injuries on the disabled child that appeared consistent with choking," charging documents state.
Officers later interviewed Quilter at a Pleasant Grove police station. There she told officers that her son has severe autism and Langer–Giedion syndrome, and cannot communicate verbally, according to the arrest report.
She told police her son had “thrown feces all over his room” the report states. Quilter said she used a “basket hold” to restrain him, in which she crossed his arms around, "and pulled him to the floor where she then wrapped her legs around him from behind and held him until her 17-year-old daughter intervened," according to the report.
The officer played her the audio recording, and Quilter said the events heard in the recording took place when she was restraining her son in the basket hold, according to the report.
(Quilter) 'admitted to using force against the disabled adult child but claimed that it was necessary to stop behavioral problems and denied choking the adult child.'
–Charging documents
Two other voices in the recording were heard saying, “Stop — mom stop,” the report states. Quilter told police that those two voices belonged to her teenaged daughter and son.
She "admitted to using force against the disabled adult child but claimed that it was necessary to stop behavioral problems and denied choking the adult child," according to charging documents.
Quilter’s daughter presented a different version of events, however, according to the arrest report.
The daughter told police on Tuesday that her brother started screaming when her mother sat down on a bed close to where he was kneeling on the floor, the report states. Quilter then "grabbed (her son) by the front of his throat with her right hand and the back of his head with her left hand before she pushed him to the ground," according to the report.
The daughter told police that her mom "straddled his trunk and arms with her legs and applied so much pressure to (her son’s) neck that the screaming stopped because she cut his ability to breath (sic) off,” the report states. The daughter then said she and a brother "intervened and several times said 'Stop, Mom!' before they physically pulled her" away from their brother, who "again began to scream," jail documents state.
"This information directly coincides with the audio recording," police had listened to earlier, according to jail documents.
Quilter was booked into jail early Sunday morning, but was released later that evening, according to Utah County Jail records.
After she was released, the woman asked her daughter to meet her at the hotel where she was staying, according to the arrest report. When the daughter arrived, the woman then "pointedly asked her if it was she who had given the recording to the police, and she became emotionally upset," the report states. She also told the daughter "that she needed a doctor, not the police or jail," according to the report.
Quilter was jailed again on Tuesday afternoon on investigation of tampering with a witness, among other offenses, according to jail records. She had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon.
