Affidavit Details Baby's Poisoning - insecticide on clothing etc

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Affidavit Details Baby's Poisoning

By ALAINE GRIFFIN

Courant Staff Writer

April 12 2007

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-babypoison0412.artapr12,0,4603830.story

When she learned last September that her infant nephew had been poisoned,

court records say, Burger, an avid gardener, suspected an

insecticide that spilled on her clothing was the cause.

But police said Burger never told anyone she had insecticides on her

clothes when she held the baby as he fell sick.

Burger would eventually research the chemicals she heard had sickened

10-day-old Couto on the Internet and " found out how toxic " they were,

according to an affidavit contained in the warrant for Burger's arrest.

Police say Burger's actions caused the poisoning of the infant, who has

recovered.

" She knew that it (sic) been her that caused the complications to the baby

but did not say anything to anyone at this time, " the warrant, released

Wednesday by prosecutors, states.

When the baby's father told her about the poisoning, Burger told police " a

part of her also died. " But still she did not mention her suspicions about

the possible source of the poison.

Burger is scheduled to appear this month in Superior Court in New Haven to

face charges of reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor in

connection with the Sept. 10, 2006, poisoning at the baby's Madison home.

The most serious of the charges, risk of injury to a minor, is a felony

punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Burger did not return calls for comment Wednesday. Prosecutors also

declined to comment.

The arrest warrant, prepared by Madison Police Det. A. s and

signed by Judge Maureen M. Keegan, does not say why Burger refrained from

telling anyone about the insecticides. It also raises questions about

Burger's account to police that the child could have been poisoned by

sucking on her clothing or hand.

In the warrant that capped a seven-month investigation, Burger, a

40-year-old, stay-at-home Killingworth mother, tells police she takes

medication for depression and an obsessive compulsive disorder that

prompts her to keep a busy schedule that often leaves her stressed.

The warrant also quotes Burger's mother as telling police that her

daughter " became somewhat jealous " when she learned her sister was having

a son. Before the birth, Burger had bore the family's only boy. Burger

told police " her mother never gave her the type of baby shower that she

had given " her sister " when they found out that she was carrying a baby

boy, " the arrest warrant says.

Burger told an investigator " that her life is very demanding and that

being a stay-at-home mom is difficult, " the warrant states. " A slight

deviation from the schedule is very upsetting to her. " On the day of the

poisoning, Burger said, she did not have time to change out of her

gardening clothes.

In an interview with police, Burger told detectives she had done yard work

early in the day that included the use of " several types of pesticide and

gardening sprays. " That day, Burger told police she purchased an

insecticide " with the intention of killing all of the things growing in

her flower gardens. She was upset and mad that her landscaper had not

showed up to help her and that through this frustration, decided to wipe

out her flower gardens, " that warrant states.

In her first interview with police, Burger said she showered before going

to her nephew's home but she later admitted " that she did not wash up or

change " before holding the child, the warrant says. While at her sister's

home, Burger said she took her nephew outside and fed him a bottle.

Burger said she held the infant's chin and " slid her hand upward into the

baby's mouth, " inserting the " thumb to forefinger webbed section, "

mimicking a pacifier, " the same place " the insecticide had spilled on her

hand, the warrant says. She said the baby was also sucking on her shirt,

the same one she was wearing while gardening.

But in the warrant, scientists raise questions about her explanation of

how the poisoning could have happened.

Dr. Powers, director of the state police toxicology laboratory,

said the baby may have been exposed to the poison not " from just a

transdermal or contact exposure, but of direct pouring of the chemical

substance into the infant's mouth. " Chemists told police that " transdermal

contact would have caused burning throughout the entire lip area of the

infant ... and the pesticide would have caused the infant's lip to burn

completely through.. "

Burger said she smelled a chemical but did not think it was on her. The

baby then spit up a fluid that " smelled like nail polish remover. "

and Couto decided to take their son to Yale-New Haven

Hospital when the baby began having trouble breathing, " making snorting

sounds, similar to the sound made by a pig, " the warrant states. Shortly

before, Burger had said they should take the infant to a hospital.

Couto told police her sister " was anxious and panic-stricken " when

the baby began having trouble breathing and left the home with her

children.

Scientists found the chemical acephate which is used in pesticides and

other gardening sprays, on the infant's bib and on the shirt Burger was

wearing when she was gardening.

Police have evidence that shows Burger purchased a pesticide containing

acephate on the day the baby was poisoned. However, police did not find a

container that held the pesticide in Burger's home. .

Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant

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