Anna Adamo (Okeechobee County Jail).
A Florida woman was recently arrested after trying to poison an infant she was babysitting with antifreeze, Sunshine State police say.
Anna M. Adamo, 59, stands accused of one count each of aggravated child abuse, attempted first-degree murder, and adulterating food or drink, according to the Okeechobee City Police Department.
The underlying incident occurred sometime on or around Feb. 12, at the defendant”s residence in the small town located roughly 70 miles northwest of Palm Beach. The victim in the case is described as an 11-month-old child who was not yet able to crawl, walk or feed himself, police say. At the time of the incident, his parents described him as healthy.
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On the day in question, the child’s grandmother picked the infant up from Adamo’s house at around 3:25 p.m. and noticed the little boy was sleepier than usual, according to a police report obtained by Tequesta-based ABC affiliate WPBF. The child then slept for roughly two more hours before his mother came to retrieve him.
The boy’s mother and grandmother quickly noted something awry, according to law enforcement. First, at around 2:25 p.m., Adamo had texted the mother saying the child was tired and asked if she could put him down for a nap, police say. The mother allowed her son to nap. Then, when the child was moved from one car seat to another, the grandmother grew concerned because he seemed lethargic and lacking in alertness — even unable to hold his head up, police say.
Then, while with his mother, the child began to vomit, police say. The child’s mother described the vomit as abnormal — particularly smelly, sticky, and clear in appearance.
After calling her husband, the mother rushed her son to an emergency room at HCA Raulerson Medical Center in Okeechobee, according to law enforcement. The child was then transferred to HCA Lawnwood Medical Center in Fort Pierce. Finally, the boy ended up at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami – where he was placed on life support.
While initial doctors suspected the flu or pneumonia, a series of harrowing events in the various hospitals soon suggested otherwise, police said. The child was assigned a room but quickly intubated in the ICU where he suffered a full cardiac arrest. Miraculously, after 10 minutes of CPR, the boy was revived.
Then, after being listed under “critical condition,” a near-panoply of tests returned negative results. In a measure of desperation, a doctor suggested testing to see if the little boy had oxidized crystal in his urine, according to law enforcement. One positive result later led doctors to two commonplace situations: the child either had a genetic disorder or he had been poisoned with ethylene glycol – antifreeze.
Additional tests ruled out the genetic explanation. Eventually, the child was cleared for release from the hospital and a criminal complaint was filed with the Okeechobee City Police Department.
“The child has since been released from the hospital, though the extent of long-term injuries remains unknown,” police said in a statement provided to West Palm Beach-based NBC affiliate WPTV.
The day the boy grew ill, his mother breastfed him before leaving him with Adamo, police say. The child’s mother also said she supplied the babysitter with two 3.5-oz. bottles of breastmilk as well as some solid food. And, throughout the day, the mother said she and Adamo stayed in contact via text messages to make sure the boy was doing well.
In messages the mother provided to law enforcement, the defendant claimed to have fed the boy a 1-oz. bottle of milk – but the child’s mother noted she had not supplied the babysitter with such a bottle.
Further narrative hiccups led law enforcement to suspect Adamo.
Detectives soon sought to determine if the child had come into contact with the defendant’s husband’s clothes and been inadvertently poisoned by antifreeze – since he works at an auto parts store.
In an interview with detectives, Adamo allegedly told police her husband did not come home for lunch that day. Yet, in a separate interview, the defendant’s husband allegedly told police he did exactly that. Later, surveillance footage confirmed the defendant’s husband’s version of events, according to the police department.
Both Adamo and her husband, however, insisted he never touched the children during the wife’s babysitting work — with the occasional exception of an older child who would approach the husband. Still, the pair insisted the husband had no contact with the 11-month-old.
Throughout the course of her interviews with detectives, Adamo insisted no other adults were in the house with her that day, that the boy was never out of her sight, that he was normal when he was dropped off, and that she never took him into the garage where they stored antifreeze, law enforcement say.
Next, investigators turned to Adamo’s antifreeze itself. Two bottles were found, police say. One bottle was unopened; another bottle was opened and allegedly missing 2 1/2 cups of fluid.
A series of investigative leads were followed, search warrants executed, and testing conducted – none of which turned up much of evidentiary interest to law enforcement. Then, eventually, after consulting with an expert, the calculus changed.
According to a report by UCF Prof. Dr. Bruce Goldberger, the child would have had to have been poisoned on the same day, likely within one to two hours of showing symptoms, police claim.
Based on that timeline, police assigned blame for the child’s condition to Adamo – concluding she intentionally poisoned him with antifreeze.
Adamo was previously accused of poisoning a child in her care with antifreeze in 2014, police say. No charges came of that incident. When questioned earlier this year, the defendant allegedly said she had never been suspected of poisoning a child.
On Oct. 3, the defendant was arrested on a fugitive from justice warrant in Lowndes County, Georgia, and extradited to Florida.
On Wednesday, Adamo was released on bond.
