Cops: Mom fakes
daughter's cancer

A grand jury is expected to hear evidence next month regarding the case of an Ohio woman who allegedly fooled her own 7-year-old daughter – as well as the public – into thinking her child had cancer.

Picture of Teresa and Hannah Milbrandt helped bring in donations (Photo courtesy Brown News Service)

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Police say Teresa Milbrandt deceived her daughter, Hannah, and the community into believing the girl had leukemia so she could raise money. The mother even shaved the second-grader's head, gave her sleeping pills and put her in counseling to prepare to die, authorities said.

"Hannah doesn't have cancer," Urbana Police Sgt. David Reese told the Brown News Service. "Mom set the whole thing up. It's a fraud. She even gave the little girl pills to make her sick."

Milbrandt allegedly made her daughter ill by giving her Night Time Sleep Aid, an over-the-counter drug.

"I don't know what to tell people about this. I don't know why people do this," Reese said. "There are people deserving of charity. There are kids who are sick."

Police started investigating Hannah's illness a week ago when some people from her school noticed her hair was not falling out, but was being cut or shaved. Reese said Hannah does have some illnesses but police have determined none are life-threatening.

According to a June news report in the Urbana Daily Citizen, Hannah's parents said their daughter was diagnosed with a form of hemophilia when she was 8 months old. Mrs. Milbrandt, 35, reportedly said that condition made it impossible for doctors to operate when Hannah was diagnosed with a cancerous central nervous system tumor in March.

Bob Milbrandt, 44, said both he and his daughter were unaware of the ruse, and as a result he's checked his wife into a mental hospital.

"I don't know how you can be married to someone for so long, them lie to you and you not know," he told Brown News. "I didn't know whether I just wanted to lock her up or what."

While Mr. Milbrandt is also under investigation, no charges have been filed against him; however, his wife may not be so fortunate.

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"By the time we get done, there's going to be a lot of charges here," Reese told the Springfield News-Sun.

According to the paper's account, teachers at Hannah's school first learned of her alleged illness at the beginning of this year when she was still in first grade.

Family photos, some used in fund-raising promotions, show Hannah at different "stages" of leukemia, some with hair that appears to be falling out and others with Hannah wearing a protective mask over her mouth and nose while her shaved head stands out among other children.

Detectives seized a computer from the Milbrandt home, and Reese said they found on it information from the Internet showing how to seek financial help from cancer organizations and a group that grants wishes to terminally ill children.

Investigators estimate $10,000 had been collected on behalf of Hannah, with a church donating $2,200 and two other groups each giving $500.

Letters from Hannah's classmates at North Elementary School are now evidence in the probe.

"I miss you," wrote one student in a letter to Hannah. "Everybody misses you. I hope you feel better soon. I can't wait until you come back. You are my best friend."

"We've got a whole city on their knees," Reese told the paper. "I've delivered death messages that people have taken easier than some of the people are taking this; they're just destroyed."