Mom accused of making up rape to cover up abuse of boy

When the mother of a 5-year-old boy brought him to a Tacoma hospital Jan. 19, she told doctors and police an improbable story. She claimed her son had been assaulted by three men who first attacked and raped her after her car ran out of gas near her home late at night.

Instead said Pierce County sheriff's investigators, the rape story was a cover up to protect the woman's boyfriend who is now wanted for first degree child assault.

The woman brought the boy into Allenmore hospital with bruising and active bleeding in his brain. She told doctors she had not been able to sleep so she went on a drive with the boy at 3a.m. and ran out of gas. She claimed three men attacked and raped her as she walked home, assaulting her son in the process.

But investigators said that story was made up by her boyfriend, Christopher Landrie, 25. "It turned out what we thought," said sheriff's detective and spokesman Ed Troyer. "The kid was assaulted at home and the mom's boyfriend is the suspect and now we're looking for him."
 
Landrie was interviewed briefly before the woman recanted her story but left the hospital, according to a probable cause document, because he didn't like the questions he was being asked by detectives. An arrest warrant for Landrie charging him with first degree child assault was issued Monday. Landrie has since vanished.
 
Sheriff's investigators said Landrie's girlfriend could face criminal charges for making up the rape story. "It would be a possibility that she could face charges," said Troyer. "False reporting, obstructing an investigation. It's pretty sad when it's your own son."
 
The boy was transferred to Mary Bridge Children's hospital in critical condition.
 
Landrie was the subject of an order of protection in 2010 by another woman who accused him of attacking her and endangering her daughter. In a petition for the court order the woman wrote that Landrie "pushed me into a big screen TV" and, "pushed me down the stairs while I was holding my daughter."
 
Landrie also has convictions for robbery and possessing stolen property from 2007.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Tacoma and Pierce county at 253-591-5959.

KIRO