Bipolar Disorder

Mystery lingers about a Chester County nurse and mother who left a party at a 76er player's home in Penn Valley on Aug. 23, 2009, and vanished. Now, a TV show is taking up the case - and its dearth of clues. An episode of Disappeared on the Investigation Discovery network at 9 p.m. Monday will explore the mystery of Toni Lee Sharpless, who was 29 when she planned a night on the town and never returned. "I just hope this reaches the right people, and our daughter is brought home to us," said Sharpless' mother, Donna S. Knebel.

Jerry Chambers, charged with murder in the beating, suffocation and starvation of 3-year-old Porchia Bennett, said in court yesterday that he suffers from bipolar disorder, a mental illness his attorney could later use as part of the defense. "Obviously, that will have some impact on which way we're going to go," defense lawyer Charles P. Mirarchi 3d told reporters. "He maintains his innocence at this point. " At yesterday's brief scheduling hearing, Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax told the judge he needed two days in which to present evidence at a preliminary hearing for Chambers and his girlfriend, Candice Geiger, who is Porchia's aunt and took care of the child and her three older sisters for nearly a year.

When fabric artist Carolyn Lee Vehslage began creating computer collages, she intended them to represent her frustrations with computers and as a study of technology's impact on all of us. But the more she worked on them, the more the former computer network engineer began to understand that they represented "more than a discussion of technology and how it complicates our lives. " "I finally realized they resonated so much with me because they reflected my bipolar disorder, which I've had all my life.

A 33-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to stealing $54,733 while serving as treasurer of a Radnor elementary school's parent-teacher organization has been sentenced in Delaware County Court to five consecutive weekends in prison and ordered to pay full restitution. Judge Frank T. Hazel's sentencing of Elaine D. Sauerteig of Malvern came more than six months after her arrest Aug. 2 on charges of pilfering money from Ithan Elementary School's events fund from August 1995 to June 1996.

Before his fifth birthday, Jeri Turrin's happy, playful son turned frustrated, disruptive - full of mad energy. He'd race from one end of the house to the other, jumping off the banister because he thought he could fly. His mother feared his horrible rages. "He would punch me so hard I would throw up," the Columbus, N.J., woman said. A doctor thought that Bradley had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but the Ritalin he prescribed made the boy hallucinate. At 6, Bradley drew his own gravestone and wrote, "I want to die. " Jeri Turrin learned that her son had a mental illness doctors once thought kids couldn't have: bipolar disorder.

"Everybody deserves a place of his own, where he's wanted. And that sure includes Michael," his foster mother says. "Some of his problems are different," she continues, "but the satisfaction of knowing he's being cared for and loved makes it worth the extra effort. " Michael, 13, was a premature baby and weighed only 3 pounds at birth. His social worker says neglect and abuse in his background could be a factor in his disabilities. He is not verbal, and has cerebral palsy, a nonprogressive muscle condition.

The mental-health defense planned by former U.S. Rep. Edward Mezvinsky to explain why he defrauded friends, family and institutions of more than $10 million is not supported by evidence and should not be heard at his trial next year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said yesterday. In a 59-page motion filed yesterday, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell to bar the testimony of four experts who concluded that Mezvinsky's physical and mental health likely suffered because of his use of the anti-malaria drug Lariam.

More members of the Kardashian Horde have exited the nest to begin feasting on the culture. USA Today says Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner's youngest daughters, Kendall, 16, and Kylie, 14, are joining Kim, Kris, and Khloé's deadly takeover of the kollective konsciousness. The teens have landed jobs as, um, journalists. They've been named West Coast fashion contributors to Seventeen mag. "Kendall & Kylie's Fashion Journal" debuts in the June/July issue and features the latest fashion and beauty tips, the mag says.

The sentencing of Tony Young, a Chester County investment manager who pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of $23 million, was postponed to Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. It had been scheduled for this morning at 9 a.m., but was moved back because a psychological evaluation of Young, ordered by U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez, was not yet ready. A neuropsychologist, Barry M. Crown, testified at a hearing last week that Young had bipolar disorder and an organic form of brain damage from falling off his polo pony and from motorcycle accidents.

A Philadelphia physician pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to racketeering in connection with insurance fraud, illegal dispensing of prescription drugs, and sales of drug samples. Natawadee Steinhouse, 55, of Laverock, Montgomery County, who operated three offices in Philadelphia, was indicted in September and charged with submitting $1 million in fraudulent claims to health insurers. She also was accused of illegally issuing prescriptions for drugs, including painkillers, to addicts from 1989 to 1994.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: Just spent weekend with Son and Daughter-in-Law. Son behaved horribly toward Wife, to the point that I had to get between them, and concerned for the safety of all, I told him to leave. Daughter-in-Law, however, lit into me for "placating" son, not seeing the "real" him, creating a monster. She started all over again in the morning. I saw a completely different side of her as she verbally attacked me. This is the side Son has only recently shared with me. Please hear me: He was over-the-top angry and wrong.

More members of the Kardashian Horde have exited the nest to begin feasting on the culture. USA Today says Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner's youngest daughters, Kendall, 16, and Kylie, 14, are joining Kim, Kris, and Khloé's deadly takeover of the kollective konsciousness. The teens have landed jobs as, um, journalists. They've been named West Coast fashion contributors to Seventeen mag. "Kendall & Kylie's Fashion Journal" debuts in the June/July issue and features the latest fashion and beauty tips, the mag says.

The last time a Louise Roche musical visited the Kimmel Center's Innovation Studio, it was the sequel to Girls Night: The Musical , titled Girl Talk: The Musical , and it was awful. This time, we get the original, and there are several ways in which it is better. There are also several ways in which it is just as bad. First, everyone scheduled to appear showed up, and their names are all listed in the program. Last time, there was no program, and Charo, along with two other actors, bailed on opening night.

THE SUSPECTED gunman in a triple slaying at a West Philadelphia corner store last September has a history of mental illness but has been found to be competent to stand trial, his attorney told a judge yesterday. A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Ibrahim Muhammed found that he suffers from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, hallucinations and other mental-health issues, defense attorney Lawrence Krasner told Municipal Judge James DeLeon during a status hearing at the Criminal Justice Center.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday that she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago that shook the country. "I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," the Democratic lawmaker said on a video posted without notice on her Facebook page. "I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high," she said.

BOSTON - A Massachusetts court yesterday overturned a ruling by a judge who ordered a mentally ill woman to undergo an abortion against her wishes and be sterilized. The Massachusetts Appeals Court said the woman, who has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had described herself as "very Catholic" and made it clear she did not want an abortion. The ruling reverses a decision by Family and Probate Court Judge Christina Harms, who found that the 32-year-old woman was not competent to decide whether to get an abortion.

WHAT'S UP with Delonte West? On Saturday, the former Saint Joseph's star told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he was banned from visiting the White House with his Mavericks teammates yesterday because he failed a criminal-background check. Not so, according to the Secret Service and the Mavericks, who were invited to visit with President Obama because they won the NBA title last season. "The individual in question was never someone that would not be permitted to attend the event today," Secret Service agent Edwin Donovan told ABC News.

It was a long-held dream come true for Kano Williams when he opened his Island Vybez Jamaican Restaurant in August on Federal Street in East Camden, and he came up with a shrewd way to boost his business - giving away bottled water with each delivery. The marketing gimmick might have cost the Jamaica native his life: As he waited in his car for one of his cooks to bring out water for a delivery he was making on the afternoon of Oct. 5, Williams, 30, was shot and killed at close range by a man police say was a friend.

J. Douglas Moran Jr., 49, of Norristown, a cameraman who made a documentary about his struggle with mental illness, died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday, Oct. 29, at home. Mr. Moran grew up in Chestnut Hill, and graduated in 1980 from Chestnut Hill Academy, where he performed in theatrical productions and played on the golf team. He spent a postgraduate year at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, then studied acting for a year at HB Studio in New York City. Returning to Chestnut Hill, Mr. Moran worked for Killian's Hardware and Future Video while pursuing an acting career at Stagecrafters Theater.