FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lynda Cruz was in over her head, a now-retired psychologist testified Wednesday.
After her husband’s untimely death in 2004, she was left to raise the two boys they adopted, Nikolas and Zachary. Both had difficulties, said former therapist Frederick Kravitz. But young Nikolas had especially difficult problems. “When Nikolas got frustrated or angry, he’d lash out,” Kravitz said.
The child, who saw his father collapse from a fatal heart attack, was terrified of being left behind by his mother. “He was extremely fearful she would forget to pick him up at school and he would be stranded there,” Kravitz said. “He had a pretty active, bad imagination.”
