In a horrific incident from USA, a woman was arrested for allegedly poisoning her boyfriend’s 18-month old toddler to death. According to reports, Alessia Owens, 20, deliberately fed the child harmful substance such as batteries, beauty products like nail polish remover and metal nails with the intent to harm. She was arrested on Thursday for suspected homicide of the toddler after fatal levels of Acetone were found in the child’s blood.
Owens had been living with the deceased baby’s father, Bailey Jacoby, when he left the house to go to the store. He had visitation rights to his daughter Iris and she was staying with him for the time being. He then received a call from Owens saying that something was wrong with Iris. She reportedly said that the baby had ‘cramped up’ and had hit her head. He rushed to his home to find the baby unresponsive and called 911.
The toddler was rushed to the UPMC Jameson Hospital in New Castle, Pennsylvania, for treatment but she was later airlifted roughly one hour away to the children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. She reportedly died 4 days later due to organ failure. Iris lived with her mother, Emily Alfera and her grandparents while Jacoby had visitation rights.
The autopsy revealed that Iris had consumed “water beads”, along with button shaped batteries and a metal screw, months before she died. She also had fatal amount of Acetone in her system which can be found in beauty products. Shockingly, a search of Owens’ phone revealed that she had been searching up “information on household products that could harm a child’s health”, “beauty products that are poisonous for children”, and “medications leading to accidental poisoning deaths in children”.
Owens faces a murder charge, aggravated assault of a child, endangering welfare of the child, and “other offenses regarding conduct leading to the baby’s death and other acts of abuse in months prior.”