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Salt Poisoning

October 25, 2008

The 4 year old Andrew Burd had salt poisoning or hypernatremia. In 2006 he arrived to a hospital in critical condition. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. After several tests they discovered that he had very high levels of salt in his body. The day after, he was dead.

A 29 year old pregnant mother of four was in the process of adopting Andrew. She said that Andrew had been fed full at lunch and instead of giving him more food after that she put a few dashes of creole seasoning in a cup of water. That didn’t help and he fell on the floor and vomited. They thought he had the flue, but after an hour and a half he was still vomiting. Then they went to the hospital

To investigators, Andrew's sudden and bizarre death was no accident. Within days, the authorities had begun weaving a sinister tale of murder. They painted Hannah Overton as a pregnant mother of four young children who became overwhelmed with the arrival of a foster child.

"This case boils down to a woman who, basically, tortured a child," said prosecutor Sandra Eastwood, "becoming so enraged she forced him to have 23 teaspoons of hot pepper and then watching him die in agony."

In Texas, if a child younger than 6 dies at the hands of another person it is considered a capital case. The charge carries a minimum life sentence.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6098673&page=1

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