A 22-year-old Alabama mother has been charged with manslaughter and aggravated child abuse after allegedly injecting a chemical mixture into her one-year-old son's feeding tube, leading to his death, authorities said.
Kaitlynn Grace Dominick was arrested Tuesday following a two-week investigation into the death of her son, who required a feeding tube due to a medical condition. The boy was brought to USA Health Children's & Women's Hospital in Mobile on May 4 and died the following day.
Medical staff became suspicious after reviewing the child's lab results and reported the case to the Department of Human Resources, which alerted the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. During interviews, Dominick gave inconsistent statements and later admitted to mixing a solution containing table salt and another liquid and administering it to her son.
Prosecutors allege Dominick knowingly gave the mixture to make her son sick, forcing a hospitalisation that would temporarily relieve her of caregiving duties. Captain Justin Correa of the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office stated, 'We think that this child has had a feeding tube for long enough, and Miss Dominick is educated enough to know what she is doing.'
Chief Assistant District Attorney Teresa Heinz added, 'I do believe that she did know that this would harm the child, and I do believe she did it because she knew that if the child was taken to the hospital that there would be adequate nursing staff, adequate doctors, adequate medical professionals who would then be tending to that child.'
Dominick has been released on conditions including GPS-monitored house arrest, no contact with anyone under 18, and surrender of her passport.
