A 4-week-old had more than four times the legal limit of alcohol for Georgia adults in her body when she died at an Atlanta hospital, the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
The newborn’s parents have both been charged with murder after Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta doctors questioned the pair’s story.
On April 13, Sydnei Moran Dunn, 24, and Marquis Simon Colvin, 25, took the unresponsive baby to the hospital, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Ashley Henson. The medical staff then contacted the sheriff’s office and detectives were sent to the hospital.
“Initially, Dunn stated that she had consumed a large quantity of alcohol the day before and that the child must have gotten alcohol poisoning from her while she was breastfeeding,” Henson said in an emailed statement. “She then indicated that the child’s father put alcohol in the baby’s bottle.”
That evening, detectives executed a search warrant at a Hiram-area home where the parents lived in a basement apartment, Henson said.
“During the course of the search warrant, detectives located evidence of the crime as well as a firearm,” Henson said. “Colvin, who is a convicted felon, is not allowed to be in close proximity or possess a firearm.”
The following day, the baby died from the amount of alcohol in its system, police said. The blood-alcohol level was not released, but doctors said it was more than four times .08, the legal limit for Georgia drivers.
Both Dunn and Colvin were arrested and charged with malice murder, second-degree murder, first-degree cruelty to children and reckless conduct, according to police. Colvin was also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and a parole violation. Both suspects were being held without bond Tuesday at the Paulding jail.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Criminal Investigations Tip Line at 770-443-3047 or submit a tip via the Paulding Sheriff mobile app.
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