A Miami-Dade mother is facing a murder charge in the 2024 death of her 9-month-old son who’d ingested cocaine and methamphetamine, authorities said.
Natalia Munoz-Paulino, 26, was arrested Monday on a charge of second-degree murder/aggravated child abuse, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
According to an arrest report, the infant had been rushed to the hospital from the family’s apartment on July 2, 2024, but was pronounced dead in the emergency room.
Officers who’d responded to the apartment found it “disheveled, unkept and dirty” with clothing, old food, trash and used hygienic products scattered on the floor, the report said.
“The environment was unconducive for children to live in as several items which could be harmful to a child’s health and well-being were scattered on the floor,” the report said.
At one point, officers had to intervene when the victim’s older sibling began ingesting baby oil from a bottle without intervention from the mother, Munoz-Paulino, the report said.
Detectives spoke with Munoz-Paulino, who said she fell asleep while cradling the victim and said when she woke up the infant was “purple, unresponsive and stiff,” the report said.
Neighbors who spoke with NBC6 on Tuesday said they remembered her screaming and police taking the baby out of the apartment. They also said the baby looked purple and wasn’t moving.
Police said she gave inconsistent stories, later telling investigators that the victim and older sibling were playing when the victim fell and struck his head, telling the Department of Children and Families that the infant had drowned in the bathtub, and telling the victim’s father that the infant had choked, the report said.
Munoz-Paulino also said the infant wasn’t breastfed and was “known for placing foreign objects in his mouth,” the report said.
The victim’s father, who was working out of state and wasn’t home at the time, said Munoz-Paulino has told him of her illegal use of methamphetamine and cocaine, the report said.
An autopsy revealed eggshells and feathers in the victim’s stomach, and a toxicology report showed lethal amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine, the report said.
The medical examiner ruled out suffocation and determined the cause of death as child neglect, adding that the boy had ingested the cocaine and methamphetamine.
Munoz-Paulino admitted to using drugs the weekend prior to the incident while hosting a party but couldn’t give details about the hours leading up to the incident, the report said.
She was arrested and booked into jail, and appeared before a judge on Tuesday who ordered her held without bond.
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