Mark was taken into custody but never gave a full explanation for what he’d done. He died months later, still facing the investigation.

Sarah accepted a legal agreement requiring long-term treatment in a secure facility. The prosecutor believed her fear and her manipulation mattered — but that they did not erase her responsibility.

I agreed.

She had been deceived and controlled. But Lily had still needed a mother who protected her.

Six days after the pool, a team of specialists safely removed the device.

It had never functioned. According to the doctors, it was never likely to produce the result Mark had been promised.