A Pennsylvania mother is in custody after her baby died from drinking drug-laced breast milk, authorities announced Saturday.
Samantha Jones, 30, of New Britain Township was arrested Friday and charged with criminal homicide for allegedly killing her 11-week-old son, WPVI reported.
The mother reportedly told investigators that she was on the prescription methadone at the time of the infant’s death to combat an addiction to prescription painkillers.
Jones allegedly told authorities she had breastfed her baby, but she fed him formula three days before his death because he could not get enough milk from breastfeeding.
On April 2 at 3 a.m., the infant began crying, and Jones began breastfeeding him because she was too exhausted to fetch the formula from downstairs, Jones allegedly told investigators.
Jones’s husband told police the baby cried again at 6 a.m., when, he said, his wife asked him to get a bottle of formula. Once he left for work, she gave the baby the formula, fell asleep, and awoke at 7:30 a.m. to find the child with pale skin and in distress.
Jones’s mother, under instruction from 911 dispatchers, performed CPR on the child until the paramedics arrived.
Police arrived at 7:38 a.m. and discovered the baby had gone into cardiac arrest, WTXF reported. Doctors pronounced the child dead in the emergency room at 8:29 a.m.
An autopsy revealed the baby had methadone, methamphetamine, and amphetamine in his system, transmitted through the mother’s breast milk, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.
KYW News Radio 1060 reported that tests of the formula and the bottle showed up negative for illicit drugs.
Jones is being held in jail on $3 million bond. Her attorney, Louis Busico, claimed the bail amount and charges against his client are unjust for a “horrific accident.”
“This is a horrific accident in which a loving and devoted mother tragically lost the most important thing on earth, her little boy,” Busico said.
The other child, a two-year-old son, is being cared for by his father.