Lousiana 9-month-old dies as mother falls asleep on the child after taking meth, marijuana and ecstasy
WEST MONROE, LOUISIANA: A 28-year-old woman was charged with second-degree murder last week after she was accused of killing her 9-month-old baby by falling asleep on top of the child.
Heather Hall used meth on Tuesday (March 10) and Ecstasy on Wednesday (March 11) night before going to sleep in her home with the baby and her two other small children. The Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that deputies “responded to a residence in West Monroe on March 12, 2020, in reference to a 9-month-old child not breathing. The victim was located by deputies at the residence deceased.”
According to an arrest warrant reviewed by the News-Star of Monroe, Hall's unnamed boyfriend left the house on the morning of March 12 and returned sometime later to work on a vehicle parked in the driveway. A few hours later, he received a call from Hall's uncle telling him to wake up his girlfriend to go down to a store. When he went inside the suspect's bedroom, he found her sleeping with her three children on the bed.
He later told the authorities that he found Hall sleeping on her back with her legs on top of the baby, who was face down on the bed. When he tried to wake up Hall, he realized that the baby was not breathing
As soon as Hall woke up, she grabbed the baby, rushed to the kitchen and dropped the infant on the floor. An unnamed witness began performing CPR on the child and did not stop till paramedics arrived on the scene. The same witness told the police that Hall was standing outside the house when the first responders arrived at the scene.
A field urine analysis administered on Hall by Child Protective Service investigators came back positive for meth, marijuana, Ecstasy and amphetamines.
Hall corroborated her boyfriend's version of how the events unfolded, confirming that she was woken up by him before she discovered that the baby was not breathing. However, she added that she could not remember if her legs were on top of the baby prior to her being woken up.
After a preliminary investigation, murder charges were filed against Hall on Friday. She is being held without bail. It was unclear if she had appeared before a judge to plead to the murder charge, as of Monday, March 16.