Woman Spikes Baby’s Bottle

Authorities accused an Illinois stepmother of pouring nail polish remover into her 17-month-old stepdaughter’s milk bottle.

While it is unclear what led officials to suspect Andrea Vazquez-Hernandez, 36, the woman was arrested, reports KGO.

Vazquez-Hernandez faces charges of both aggravated battery and domestic battery

After the infant spit out the bottle’s contents, the child’s father inspected further and rushed the baby to hospital, WGN reports.

He also called the police.

“An investigation into the matter revealed that at some point in time earlier that day, the victim’s stepmother allegedly added approximately 1 inch of nail polish remover to the baby bottle,” a statement from the DuPage County State’s Attorney read.

While hospital tests revealed the child would be fine, the investigation will continue.

“The allegations against this defendant are extremely disturbing,” added State’s Attorney Robert Berlin. “Thankfully, the young victim in this case did not ingest any of the nail polish remover allegedly supplied by her stepmother.”

It’s not the first time a parent has been arrested for trying to hurt a baby, KPRC reports.

Cynthia Kaye Wood, 19, was reportedly caught on surveillance video attempting to kill her baby while he was in the hospital in the Houston area.

“She pinched his nose, put a pacifier in his mouth, put a blanket over his mouth, and her hand over his mouth, suffocating him,” said Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Dupree.

Authorities said they were horrified by what they’d seen.

“We do these cases every day and this is very horrific. Both Ms. Dupree and myself and the police officers were extraordinarily shocked by how horrific this specific case was,” Assistant Harris County District Attorney Michelle Oncken said.

Wood also had another baby who died a year earlier in Mississippi. Officials began investigating that child’s death further after the alleged attempted murder.

“It’s very important, critical for us, to investigate that case, but we don’t know a lot of information at this time. But it’s obviously very concerning if we have a situation where we have an attempted murder of one baby and another baby who’s deceased, so we’re going to look into that very thoroughly,” Oncken added.

Wood’s 5-year-old child and the child she allegedly tried to kill were taken into care by child protective services, KPRC reports. Wood had another child, now 2 years old, who was put up for adoption at birth.

Sources: KGO, WGN, KPRC / Photo credit: DuPage County State’s Attorney via KGO