MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A 26-year-old Miami-Dade woman has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the 2024 death of her 9-month-old son, who investigators say ingested methamphetamine and cocaine.
According to Miami-Dade jail records, Natalia Munoz-Paulino was taken into custody on Monday.
An arrest report states the baby was rushed to the hospital from the family’s apartment on July 2, 2024, but was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the emergency room. Officers found the apartment “disheveled, unkept, and dirty,” with trash, spoiled food, clothing, and used hygiene products strewn across the floor.
Police described the living space as unsafe for children, noting harmful items scattered around. At one point, officers had to stop the victim’s older sibling from drinking baby oil while Munoz-Paulino failed to intervene, according to the report.
Munoz-Paulino told detectives she fell asleep while holding her son and woke to find him “purple, unresponsive, and stiff.” However, police said she gave conflicting accounts — claiming at different times that the baby fell and hit his head, drowned in the bathtub, or choked.
Investigators also learned from the child’s father — who was working out of state — that Munoz-Paulino had admitted to using meth and cocaine in the past.
An autopsy revealed eggshells and feathers in the infant’s stomach, while toxicology tests detected lethal levels of cocaine and methamphetamine. The medical examiner ruled the death the result of child neglect, concluding that the baby had directly ingested the drugs.
Munoz-Paulino later admitted to using drugs during a party the weekend before the incident but said she couldn’t recall events leading up to her son’s death.
She appeared before a judge on Tuesday and was ordered held without bond at the Miami-Dade County Jail.
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