A California woman was arrested and charged with murder in the death of her baby.The eight-month-old boy tragically died after being breastfed. The mother’s milk contained a lethal cocktail of methadone and Xanax.
Sarah Ann Stephens, 32, of Citrus Heights, Sacramento, California, is facing charges of second-degree murder and child endangerment because police said that she was aware of the high levels of prescription drugs in her system.
She exposed her baby to the drugs by breastfeeding him.
In fact, months before Ryder Salmen’s death, court documents show his mother was warned to stop breastfeeding him because of the amount of methadone in her son’s blood stream.
Emergency services were called to the apartment on reports of an unresponsive baby. At first, investigators believed that the death of Salmen was caused by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). But toxicology tests showed that the baby had died of an overdose of prescription drugs.
Child Protective Services in Sacramento County is being highly criticized for the death of baby Salmen.
A report shows that Child Protective Services was notified about the situation after the baby was hospitalized at 4-months-old after he tested positive for drugs. Child Protective Services took three months to respond to the case, by then, it was too late.
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