A Pennsylvania mother faces a homicide charge after police accused her of poisoning her 2-year-old son by putting Vicodin in the boy's sippy cup, the Bucks County Courier Times reported.
Jennifer A. Clarey, 42, of Tullytown, was charged Tuesday with a count of criminal homicide in the Aug. 25 death of her son, Mazikeen Curtis.
Tullytown police responded to a home around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 25 after Bucks County Children and Youth Services told police that Clarey appeared intoxicated and was not cooperating during a welfare check, the Courier Times reported. Police found Mazikeen lying dead on a bed, WTHR reported. Clarey was found on the bed with "significant lacerations" to both wrists, according to the criminal complaint.
Authorities said the child overdosed after Clarey put the painkiller in his cup, the television station reported. Toxicology tests found toxic doses of hydrocodone, sold as Vicodin, and diphenhydramine, which is sold over the counter as Children's Benadryl.
“He was given a fatal, poisonous dose of the active ingredient we commonly call Vicodin,” District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said. “Plain and simple this was a murder, and the weapon was the pills that came from this bottle.”
Clarey was arraigned Tuesday and was ordered held without bond.
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