Case against Camillus mom accused of abusing son for years headed to grand jury

By Fernando Alba | falba@syracuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. — The criminal case against a Camillus mom accused of abusing her 11-year-old son is headed to a grand jury, prosecutors said.

Susan Orendorf, 44, was accused last week of abuse spanning at least five years, including handcuffing her son to a bed frame and forcing him to sleep on the floor, detectives said in a criminal complaint.

Orendorf was charged Sept. 20 with second-degree strangulation, first-degree unlawful imprisonment and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. A county prosecutor said she could be charged with more crimes.

Those charges could be determined by a grand jury. It’s unclear what additional charges a grand jury might indict Orendorf on, but they could be more severe than the low-level felonies and misdemeanors she currently faces.

A day care director told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that she reported Orendorf to the county Department of Children and Family Services 10 months ago. She said she could not understand why the son was left in the home.

On Tuesday, county Executive Ryan McMahon said the county has agreed to cooperate with the district attorney’s office in its investigation.

“I have directed our team to fully cooperate with the District Attorney and his team to provide any and all relevant information into his criminal investigation of Ms. Orendorf.” McMahon said in a news release.

“While I have many questions of my own and am limited at this time from saying anything further publicly, I want to assure the community that my administration is fully committed to making sure this tragedy is not repeated,” he said.

In their investigation, prosecutors would have to subpoena county records. It’s unclear whether the county’s cooperation would quicken that process.

Detectives accused Orendorf handcuffing the boy each night to a bed frame, forcing him to wear a diaper and sleep on the floor, strangling him on one occasion until his vision became blurry and withholding food from him for days at a time.

School staff and a school resource officer became concerned when her son returned to school this month and had lost a lot of weight. Last school year, the officer got to know the boy after he was caught stealing food from other students, police said.

Last week when Orendorf was arrested, her son was malnourished — around 20 pounds underweight, police said. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation

Orendorf was released from the Onondaga County Justice Center the same day she was arrested after posting a $40,000 bond.

The boy has since been removed from Orendorf’s home, police said. He was placed in the custody of the county Department of Children and Family Services.

The boy’s 6-year-old sister was also removed from the home, police said. Police previously said they believed the girl had not been abused. Orendorf had adopted both children.