Florida teen accused of putting fentanyl in a baby bottle and killing him
A 17-year-old mother accused of putting fentanyl in her 9-month-old baby’s bottle and killing him has told police she may be pregnant.
NASSAU COUNTY, FLORIDA, Florida. A Nassau County teenager has been arrested and faces multiple charges after she was accused of putting fentanyl in her baby’s baby bottle, which led to his death, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leaper said during a press conference Wednesday. .
On June 26, MPs responded to an apartment building on Deerfield Country Club Road in the Callaghan area in connection with a child who was not breathing and had no pulse.
When one of the police officers arrived, they found the 9-month-old boy unconscious on the living room floor and immediately began CPR until the Nassau County Fire and Rescue Department arrived.
The baby was taken to a Jacksonville hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The child was born on September 2, 2022.
When investigators arrived at the house for a preliminary investigation, the 17-year-old mother stated that she did not know what had happened. Leeper said she told police she put the baby to sleep and was unable to wake him up.
On Monday, the NCSO received information from the medical examiner’s office that the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose. The child had enough fentanyl in his body to kill ten adults.
“Most children are born to loving parents who take care of all their needs, but unfortunately, some children are born to people who are not qualified to be parents,” Leeper said.
When investigators called the mother to the sheriff’s office for questioning on Tuesday, Leeper says the mother changed her stories several times and then eventually confessed to what happened.
Detectives say that on the day of the incident, the teenage mother filled the baby’s bottle with formula and went to the bathroom at home to continue filling the bottle with what she thought was cocaine. Investigators later found a bottle of pills containing fentanyl.
“Who does it, what kind of mother would do it? It’s not normal, it hurts, I can’t imagine why a mother would do this to her baby,” Leeper said, “the victim was a 9-month-old boy, he had to crawl, he had to laugh, most importantly, safe. This is not was”.
The baby bottle has been sent to Florida law enforcement for further testing.
The mother is charged with aggravated manslaughter and possession of a controlled substance.
Leeper said during a press conference that while in custody, the mother said she might be pregnant.
According to Marcy’s law, the sheriff’s office will not release the name of the mother or the boy.
The Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Children and Families will conduct an investigation.
Leeper stated that there were other adults in the house at the time of the incident, as the NCSO investigation will show if they will face charges in addition to the mother.
If you are fighting drugs, resources are available to you. If you are an adult in crisis, call the 24-hour Adult Helpline at 904-206-1756. If you are a teenager or young adult in crisis, an adult with a child in crisis, or a friend of a teenager in crisis, call the 24-hour Youth Mobile Response Team at 904-580-0529. Call 9-1-1 right away if you or someone you care about has a medical emergency.
Please follow this link for several resources in and around Jacksonville: https://www.nassaufldrugprevention.org/.
