A Fulton County jury recently found a woman guilty of giving her 9-month-old grandson methamphetamine, leading to his death in 2016, the district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
Tonya Monroe, then 45, was arrested months after the baby, Kobe Conley Shaw, was found unresponsive in a Sandy Springs apartment in March of that year. Investigators initially thought the child may have died of natural causes, as he had been born with a serious medical condition, Sandy Springs police told Channel 2 Action News at the time.
But the county medical examiner later determined the infant died of a meth overdose.
By June, warrants for Monroe’s arrest had been obtained. She was arrested nearly six weeks later in Paulding County, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. She had changed her hair color from blond to brown.
Monroe was charged with malice murder, two counts of felony murder, cruelty to children and distribution of methamphetamine, according to court records.
She was initially tried in 2018, but the case resulted in a mistrial due to a hung jury, the district attorney’s office said. This time, she was found guilty on all counts.
In its conviction notice to the public, the district attorney’s office did not include Monroe’s motive for giving the child the narcotics.
She will be sentenced at a later date.
