Baton Rouge Police announced that four-year-old girl China Record has died after her grandmother allegedly forced her to drink a bottle of whiskey while her mother just watched. Police spokesperson Sgt. L'Jean McKneely told news outlets that the young child's grandmother, Roxanne Record, and mother, Kadjah Record, were both arrested on Friday, April 22.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the 53-year-old grandma and 29-year-old mom were each charged with first-degree murder. It was unknown if either one of them had an attorney who could speak on their behalf. Police officers were sent to a home in Baton Rouge around 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 21, after reports emerged of an unresponsive child. Police revealed that the 4-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office, China Record's autopsy showed that her cause of death was acute alcohol poisoning. Authorities said that the little girl had a blood-alcohol level of .680 percent when first responders arrived at the house. That is more than eight times the .08 percent driving limit for an adult.
Roxanne Record forced grandchild China to drink 80-proof whiskey
According to a report by The Advocate, McKneely said that China's mother, Kadjah, and her grandmother, Roxanne, allegedly got mad at her because they thought she drank their 80-proof Canadian Mist whiskey out of the bottle. Roxanne allegedly forced her granddaughter to kneel in the hallway and drink the rest of the contents of the bottle, which was still over half full with whiskey.
Baton Rouge Police said in their arrest report that Kadjah "failed to stop" her own mother, Roxanne, "from providing the alcohol" to young China. Kadjah also reportedly put her daughter's body in the bathtub when she became unresponsive after drinking the whiskey.
Police alleged in booking documents that neither woman sought medical care for China until after the little child had stopped breathing. The whiskey that China Record drank was at 80 proof which is 40 percent alcohol. Dr. Ernest P. Chiodo, a toxicologist, physician, and attorney based in Chicago, said that even if this was a full-grown adult, that is a fatal amount of alcohol.
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Child killings rising in Baton Rouge
True Crime Daily reported that the young girl's siblings were the ones who told police that their grandmother forced China to drink the whiskey as their mother watched, according to the affidavit. Roxanne and Kadjah Record were both booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish prison on first-degree murder charges early Friday morning.
China Record's death was the second killing of a kid younger than the age of 5 in East Baton Rouge in nine days. It was the city's fourth such killing in 2022, a worrying figure that far outpaces the number of killings in that age bracket by this time last year.
Roxanne reportedly told Baton Rouge Police that she "ruined everyone's lives" and that the punishment "went too far." According to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison records, both women are being held without bond on first-degree murder charges.
