In shocking audio released by investigators, a Kentucky mother confessed to accidentally giving her 8-month-old baby heroin, causing the baby to overdose.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office responded to a distressed call in November 2023 at the home of Brianne Ellinger, 33, of Burlington, where her baby daughter was having difficulty breathing.
After an investigation, police discovered the girl had stopped breathing due to a heroin overdose, and Ehlinger and the girl’s father, Sean Gardner, 35, were arrested in December, police said. Fox 19.
Now, newly released police audio shows a careless mother confessing to officers that she exposed her young child to a deadly drug.
“That’s a lot,” the detective questioning Ehlinger tells her in an audio clip obtained by Fox 19.
“This should never have happened,” a tearful Ehlinger told investigators.
“Oh dear. This should never have happened, but this is how we moved on from there and made things better,” the detective told the mother.
Ehlinger told detectives he has struggled with drug addiction since he was 18 and had been drug-free for two years but recently relapsed.
Ehlinger sobs as she recounts how she used heroin before playing with her child and accidentally gave the baby drugs from her own hands.
“Then I was playing with my kids and I thought maybe she had something in her mouth, so I put my finger in her mouth to check and she was, like… not breathing and like something was going on,” Ellinger explained. “So we called 911 and I had no idea I had something in my hands.”
Ehlinger told investigators that he typically washes his hands after using heroin but forgot to do so before playing with his daughter.
She later admitted to having “heroin” on her fingers when she put the drug in her mouth.
The mother told police that Gardner called 911 after the baby lost consciousness and stopped breathing.
Ehlinger said she and her sister did everything they could to keep the baby alive as they desperately waited for emergency responders to arrive at their home, about 16 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio.
“She was still breathing but losing consciousness, so my sister and I performed CPR on her,” Ehlinger said.
Miraculously, paramedics were able to administer a life-saving dose of Narcan to the 8-month-old baby.
Ehlinger’s daughter spent several days under medical care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital before being released.
The child has since been taken into custody, according to the Department of Health and Family Services. Exit.
After her arrest in December, the careless mother told police that Gardner had given her heroin.
Ehlinger also told police that he and Gardner had used heroin away from the child and then accidentally put heroin residue on their fingers in the child’s mouth.
Both were being held on $100,000 bail while legal proceedings were pending.
But Ehlinger pleaded guilty in May to intentional endangerment and endangering the welfare of a minor.
She is due to be sentenced for the charges later this month and faces up to one to five years in prison, the outlet said.
Gardner is due to appear in court this month on similar charges.
