A Louisiana mom was charged with a second degree murder Wednesday after an autopsy of her deceased 4-day-old baby determined fentanyl toxicity as the cause of death, NOLA reported.
Lana Cristina, 28, of Kenner, Louisiana, allegedly admitted to consuming the opioid fentanyl prior to breastfeeding her newborn child in an interview with the authorities, according to NOLA.
The incident reportedly took place on June 10, 2021 in a hotel. Cristina called 911 about 3:40 a.m. to report finding her daughter breathless. The authorities who arrived on the scene took the infant to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead later that morning, NOLA reported.
Developing: A 4-day-old baby died after consuming fentanyl-tainted breast milk, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators say.
The mother was arrested and booked in jail with second-degree murder. More: https://t.co/CK11vwCPjG
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) August 5, 2021
The child’s toxicology reports showed that the infant’s death was caused by acute fentanyl toxicity, the sheriff’s office said, according to KATC. (RELATED: 1-Year-Old Baby Dies After Getting Shot In The Stomach During NYC Cookout, According To Police)
Fentanyl is a widely-abused pain-management drug that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and much more potent than heroin and has been linked with record numbers of drug overdose cases across the U.S., according to NOLA.
This is not the first drug-related homicide Cristina has been charged with. In 2013, she pleaded guilty to negligent homicide of her 23-year-old friend, whom she had been supplying with heroin. Cristina was sentenced to five years in prison at that time, according to NOLA.