Officials in Florida shared on Wednesday that last month a 9-month-old baby died after his teenage mother allegedly put enough fentanyl into his bottle to kill 10 people.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper held a press conference on Wednesday to share the news that the 17-year-old mother was arrested on charges of aggravated manslaughter and possession of a controlled substance.
Investigators say that the mother allegedly confessed that she thought the fentanyl she put into the baby’ bottle was cocaine and that she did it to put him to sleep because she wanted to take a nap, Leeper said.
Leeper said that deputies received a call on June 26 that a baby was unconscious, and when they arrived, they found the boy on the living room floor with no pulse and not breathing.
A deputy performed CPR on the baby as he was being taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the sheriff said.
While investigators now have the story of what happened, Leeper shared that initially, the mother said she was unaware of what happened, claiming “she put the baby to sleep and just couldn’t wake him up.”
The county medical examiner released a report on Monday showing that fentanyl was in the baby’s blood, the sheriff shared. His cause of death was determined to be a fentanyl overdose.
“Unfortunately, some babies are born to individuals who have no business being parents,” Leeper said.
Two milligrams of fentanyl could be deadly for a grown adult, depending on their body size, tolerance, and past usage, according to the CDC. The drug is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
“The amount he had in his system would kill approximately 10 people,” Leeper said.
After the report from the medical examiner, law enforcement officials found the baby’s bottle, tested it and found signs of fentanyl inside. Leeper shared that it has also been sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for further testing.
During an interview with investigators on Tuesday, the mother invariably confessed to what happened after changing her stories numerous times.
The 17-year-old told officers she filled the baby’s bottle with formula and went to the bathroom, where she thought she was getting a pill bottle filled with cocaine, before adding it to the baby’s bottle, Leeper shared.
“She laid him down in his crib to go to sleep, and he never woke up,” Leeper said. “Who does that? What mother would do that? That’s not normal. That is sick. It’s beyond my imagination why a mother would do that to her child.”
Leeper also shared in the press conference that the mother was being booked for the baby’s death and that she indicated she may be pregnant again.
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