An eight-month-old baby tragically died after drinking toxic breast milk containing a lethal cocktail of methadone and Xanax and now his mother had been charged with murder.
Citrus Heights, Sacramento resident, Sarah Ann Stephens, 32, faces charges of second-degree murder and felony child endangerment because police claim that she was aware of the high levels of prescription drugs in her system.
Indeed, just five months before baby Ryder Salmen's death in September 2012, court documents say that his mother had been warned to stop breastfeeding because of the amount of methadone in her son's bloodstream.
At first, the death of Ryder seemed like a case of sudden infant death syndrome after emergency services were called to Stephen's apartment to respond to an unresponsive infant.
Two weeks after Ryder's death in September last year, toxicology tests showed the baby had died of a prescription drug overdose.
As reported by the Sacramento Bee, a pathologist told a detective that 'the drugs were at a level that would have caused an adult addict to be high,'.
A warrant affidavit also said that 'Ryder had a tolerance to the drugs,'. After being arrested early last month, Stephens, of Citrus Heights, was recently charged with murder and two counts of child endangerment, KTVU reported.Read the rest HERE and view related videos below:
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3 comments:
Yes, so sad. But CPS should also face consequences! They never do. The problem with these agencies is that they always place the parents rights above the child's. In fact, they bend over backwards to help parents, but not the children. I've seen it time and time again. The child's right to life and basic safety is always second to trying to get deadbeat parents to actually be parents.
-Martha
Initially I would have said not murder, but the mother knew her milk was toxic and continued doing what she was doing. That is murder. I agree with Martha, though, whenever gov't agencies fail in their responsibilities, it's always due to "lack of funding," not their mistaken idea of "saving families"by prioritizing parents' rights over the needs of the children.
AZ
Yes! The baby had the drug amount that would have a adult drung addict high. Are you kidding me? My opinion she gave that baby drugs and not through breast milk. She was warned more than once. She had loving family members that wanted Ryder. She was selfish. Sad for everyone involved.
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