Authorities said the 5-year-old child, Sophia, reportedly died of a methamphetamine overdose after drinking a water mixture from her mother’s homemade bong. Police officials also said that after drinking the water mixture, the girl told her mother it was ‘yucky.’ Her 26-year-old mother, Stephanie, realized what happened and didn’t called 911. Instead, she did something unbeliev-ble. During an interview with investigators, the mother said that after she lost her job for failing a drug test, she shared meth with her cousins, 27-year-old Daniel and 26-year-old Bertha, that very same day. They continued to use drugs while driving to pick Sophia up from school but said they stopped when she got in the car.
After getting high, the mother and her cousins reportedly left the water bottle that they used as a pipe to smoke the methamphetamine unattended. Sophia reportedly went to bed at around 10:30 p.m. that night but got thirsty sometime later. She got up to get a drink, spotted the water bottle in her mother’s home, and drank the methamphetamine-contaminated water from it, according to the court documents. The meth-laced water caused the child to hallucinate, per reports. Although it was apparent Sophia was suffering the effects of methamphetamine ingestion, the mother and her cousins did not call for help. They were allegedly more worried about their own potential legal trouble than the child’s well-being. So, for several hours, they watched little Sophia hallucinate.
The girl’s hallucinations went on for more than three hours with her telling her mom she was “seeing monsters and demons.” The family reportedly tried home remedies, giving Sophia milk and wrapping her in a blanket. Believing the girl was possessed by an evil spirit, Daniel and Bertha insisted on reciting Bible passages and praying instead of going to the hospital. Rather than pulling out of her drug-induced state, little Sophia stopped breathing, but once again, her mother would fail to get her the help she needed, allegedly fearing she would lose the little custody she had of her daughter. So, rather than rushing Sophia to the hospital, the mother and her cousins reportedly took the child to an unnamed family member’s home, where they knew there was an oxygen machine.
Finally, when it was apparent that giving Sophia oxygen wasn’t helping revive her, the mother and her cousins transported the girl to the hospital, but it was too late. Sophia was declared dead. Coroner Glassmire said the child had a “very, very high” level of methamphetamine in her system and ruled her death an overdose from methamphetamine intoxication. When police searched the home, they found baggies filled with white powder, drug residue on a dollar bill, and pipes and bongs throughout the apartment. Finally, weeks after the little girl’s demise, authorities arrested all 3 family members in connection with the death of little Sophia. The trio was charged with child abuse resulting in death, possession of a controlled substance, and reckless endangerment. Sophia’s father, 23-year-old Alex said he ended his relationship with the mother about a year before because of her substance abuse, and he had wanted full custody of Sophia. Dear readers, we are republishing this story, amid recent reports that child abuse has surged in the United States during the pandemic.
