A Florida woman is in jail after her 9-month-old son obtained cocaine and methamphetamine and took the drugs mixed with eggshells and feathers, resulting in his death, according to investigators.
Natalia Munoz-Paulino, 26, is charged with second-degree murder and severe child abuse. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department responded to a hospital on July 2, 2024, after a 9-month-old boy was pronounced deceased.
Investigators went to Munoz-Paulino’s apartment in the 8000 block of SW 147th Avenue and found it “disheveled, unkempt, and dirty with several items of clothing, old food, trash, and used hygienic products scattered on the floor,” according to the affidavit. Cops at the incident stated that they had to stop the boy’s older sibling from eating from a baby oil bottle.
Munoz-Paulino described how she fell asleep while cuddling the victim and awoke to find him “purple, unresponsive, and stiff.” However, she eventually told detectives and other family members conflicting tales about what occurred. She stated he fell and hit his head, drowned, and choked.
The suspect allegedly informed detectives that her youngster was prone to putting foreign objects in his mouth. An autopsy revealed that he had eggshells and feathers in his stomach. The cause of death was fatal doses of cocaine and methamphetamine, and the method of death was homicide by child negligence.
Police apprehended Munoz-Paulino on Monday. Post-Miranda, she admitted to doing narcotics while holding a party at her apartment the weekend her son died. The boy’s father said he lives out of state and had previously saw the suspect doing meth in the residence.
Munoz-Paulino is still at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond. She pled not guilty.
