Lois Sutter is the mother of Michael Sutter, a 12-year-old who ended up quadriplegic after an accident.
Background[]
Michael and his father Joe were driving back from a skiing trip and had a car accident from black ice. Joe resuscitated Michael but couldn't do enough to prevent his paralysis. The entire family loved Michael as they remembered him, but they were all distraught and started to divide.
While their daughter Stephanie became more rebellious and Joe was depressed and felt overworked, regretting his son's near-vegetative state, Lois had to stay home to care for him. She was encouraged by her neighbors to take up hobbies, so she went to dance class. She met instructor Sebastian and they started an affair.
Burden[]
When Michael suffocated to death, it was assumed he died at home in the window of time of he was unsupervised before paramedics reached him. All suspects were questioned, including Lois, especially after her affair. When she was questioned about the window of time Michael was alone, she was horrified from assuming Stephanie murdered him since she was assigned to watch over him. Stephanie was revealed to have been at a friend's house, and when hemlock poisoning was revealed to have been what killed Michael, Joe was arrested since that plant was at his place of employment.
The real killer was revealed to be Michael's doctor, Lyle Semenko. Joe was released and Michael was taken to trial, with Michael's case being the only one tried despite Semenko having a history of sadistic serial killings of medical patients. When Lois testified, she pleaded the family loved Michael and never wanted him to be harmed, no matter how hard it was they couldn't have him ad healthy and engaged as they remembered.
Semenko's defense cross-examined Lois and mentioned the family's instability and even Stephanie calling Michael a "vegetable" to Lois' face. She just said Stephanie was angry and really wanted to offend Lois, still standing with her statement. After Semenko was convicted on manslaughter two, it was revealed Lois used to work at Bergen County Clinic, where Semenko committed several murders at the time. When Joe was revealed to have personally requested Semenko on Michael's case, it was revealed the parents set up both Michael and Semenko in a successful plan for Michael's euthanasia.
It's unknown if Lois and Joe were ever prosecuted.