Woman admits to plotting to kill baby with tainted milk

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- (WANE) -- The Fort Wayne woman who police said plotted to kill her brother's baby with breast milk tainted with a lethal amount of an over-the-counter pain medicine has turned in a guilty plea.

Sarai Rodriguez-Miranda, 19, pleaded guilty Monday morning in Allen Superior Court to a felony charge of Attempted Murder.

U.S. Marshals arrested Rodriguez-Miranda in Bay City, Michigan, in late September after police caught wind that she aimed to kill her infant niece by putting pain relief medication in a bottle of breast milk. Authorities alleged then that Rodriguez-Miranda was angry that her brother, his fiancée and their daughter had been staying with her and her mother at their Fort Wayne home, and that her mother had agreed to allow them to stay longer.

In January, her mother found text messages on the cellphone she and Rodriguez-Miranda shared in which her daughter told her own boyfriend about her attempts to kill the then-11-week-old girl.

“I'm gonna crush up some of these pills since she decided they can stay longer and kill their baby,” Rodriguez-Miranda allegedly wrote in a Jan. 12 text.

In other texts, she wrote “I hope she dies” and told her boyfriend that, “I thought it was funny that I don't have an ounce of guilt.” One of the text messages included a photo of a mortar and pestle with a white powder.

After reading the texts, Rodriguez-Miranda's mother took screen shots of the text messages and checked two bottles of breast milk kept in the home's refrigerator. She found that one bottle contained milk darker than the other and had residue at the bottom of the bottle and a greenish-colored ring.

The mother told police she had not used either bottle to feed the child, but she took the infant and the child's mother to a hospital emergency room. No signs of poisoning were detected in the baby.

The baby was not harmed, but the milk stored in a refrigerator contained the equivalent of nine Excedrin tablets or capsules, enough to kill an adult, according to court documents.

Rodriguez-Miranda was extradited to Indiana to face charges.

In court Monday, Rodriguez-Miranda admitted that she suffers from anxiety and depression, which she said she takes medication for.

When asked what she did that makes her guilty, Rodriguez-Miranda said, “I poisoned a bottle with a lethal dose of acetaminophen.” She clarified the bottle was for her baby niece.

“I poisoned a bottle with a lethal dose of acetaminophen,” Rodriguez-Miranda added.