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July 19, 2012

Mother charged with felony murder in methadone overdose of toddler

Affidavit: Child apparently got hold of pill dropped in church

By Jeff Lehr jlehr@joplinglobe.com

GRANBY, Mo. — The Newton County prosecutor has filed a felony murder charge against a Granby mother whose toddler son died of an overdose of methadone.

Elizabeth A. Farnam, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-month-old Logan Crow on June 24-25, according to documents filed this afternoon in Newton County Circuit Court.

A probable-cause affidavit states that the mother obtained methadone illegally for her own use and dropped a pill of the narcotic while the boy was sitting on her lap in church on June 24. Farnam’s 12-year-old son told investigators that he saw his mother drop a pill and look for it without finding it, even with the help of another woman sitting behind them in church.

Later, as the family was returning home, the toddler began sweating profusely, the older son told investigators. He said he helped his stepbrother out of the car when they got home, but the toddler seemed so tired he was falling asleep on his feet in their living room before the parents finally putting him down for a nap.

An autopsy detected 15 to 19 milligrams of methadone in his system. A forensic pathologist told investigators that the drug takes 30 minutes to two hours to get into the system if ingested, and the boy would have had to swallow the pill at least that amount of time prior to his death.

The parents told investigators that they put him down for the nap about 4 p.m. on June 24 and did not check him again until 10 a.m. the next day.

 

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