Teen mom arrested after allegedly putting fatal dose of fentanyl in baby's bottle in Florida so she would 'nap'

A teen mom in Florida has been arrested after allegedly killing her 9-month-old son, Elijah, by putting fentanyl in the baby's bottle. Authorities detected a concentration of the drug in his system high enough to cause the overdose deaths of ten people. 

The 17-year-old mother, a resident of Nassau County, claimed she mistook the fentanyl for cocaine, which she had planned on using to put Elijah to sleep that day.



According to Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper, on June 26, authorities responded to reports of an unresponsive baby at a home on Deerfield Country Club Road. Upon arrival, deputies attempted to revive him using CPR, but their efforts were unsuccessful. He was transported to Baptist Hospital North in nearby Jacksonville, but soon pronounced dead.

When criminal investigators arrived on scene, the mother claimed she did not know what happened to her son. On July 10, medical examiners revealed that Elijah had 29ng of fentanyl per ml of blood in his system, and the cause of death was ruled to be an overdose.

She eventually admitted that she had put drugs in his bottle, and was subsequently charged with manslaughter.

"Who does that?" Leeper asked. "What mother would do that? That's not normal, that is sick."

"Most babies are born to loving parents who take care of all of their needs," he continued, "but unfortunately, some babies are born to individuals who have no business in being a parent."

According to News4Jax, Elijah's father, also 17, was not in the picture, but said he was shocked to hear what the mother of his child had done.
 

"It's just really the best feeling, just to meet your first kid for the first time and hold them," he said. "I just wish I would've actually got to be able to get to know him and raise him."

As she was being booked into jail, the mother allegedly told deputies she thought she was pregnant again.