A Georgia mother and father have been arrested on murder charges in the death of their 4-week-old baby by alcohol poisoning, authorities said on Tuesday.
Sydnei Dunn and Marquis Colvin were arrested last Thursday — the day the child died — by the Paulding County Sheriff's Office in suburban Atlanta. Doctors said the amount of alcohol in the infant’s system was more than four times the legal limit for an adult, according to a sheriff's statement.
The sheriff's office said staff at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta had called authorities after the child was brought in unresponsive and the details that the parents gave “did not make sense”.
Initially Ms Dunn told authorities she had consumed a large amount of alcohol the day before and the child must have gotten alcohol poisoning from her during breastfeeding, according to the sheriff's news release. She later indicated the child's father had put alcohol in the baby's bottle, according to the statement.
Ms Dunn faces felony charges of malice murder and second-degree murder, first-degree cruelty to children and reckless conduct, a misdemeanour. Colvin faces the same charges as well as possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and parole violation.
Both are being held without bond. It was unknown if either of them has an attorney who could speak on their behalf.
