Five-year-old Alexa Linboom drank one of her step-mother’s grape sodas after she had been told not to.
That’s when Randall and Mary Vaughn decided her punishment would be drinking huge amounts of grape soda and water.
It led to acute fluid/water intoxication, causing her brain to swell and organs to shut down, leading to her death.
The incident took place in 2012 but after an ongoing investigation, the two were charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child neglect, and aggravated child abuse this week.
Attorney General Berkeley Bell told the Times News in Kingsport, Tennessee, “they also failed to take care of the child once she was injured.”
“Our position is it was a matter of several hours after the child started exhibiting serious symptoms, after the child was screaming out in pain, went into a paralyzed state, and became unconscious.”
There were six children living in the house at the time, the others are now in foster care.
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