Mom Confesses to Poisoning Son 3 Times to 'End His Suffering'
A mother is charged with the first-degree murder of her 17-month-old son in Louisiana. Erika Wigstrom confessed to poisoning her baby boy three times before finally killing him, which she says was meant to put him out of his suffering.
Baby Lucas Ruiz was poisoned after Wigstrom poured hand sanitizer into his feeding tube, effectively killing him.
"The blood alcohol content was .280. The legal limit in Louisiana is .08 so that would mean almost four and a half times the legal limit," Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Eric Becnel told Fox News. "It's been reported that she and her boyfriend wanted to end the child's misery and the pain and suffering that the child was going through."
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Baby Lucas was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect, which he was waiting for surgery for. The first time Lucas was poisoned, Wigstrom blamed his father for pouring rum into the feeding tube. He is still awaiting trial for that. Wigstrom then used perfume and ultimately, the hand sanitizer, to take her son's life.
After the first poisoning, Wigstrom went on TV and told a gut-wrenching story of how she held him while he had seizures and how much she loved him, but things thing took a turn.
"From what I gathered from our detectives, she basically had no remorse on the death," Becnel told WWLTV. "It's a tragic situation.
"It's a tragic situation," he told Fox. "I don't know what goes through someone's head, to harm a 17-month-old. I have a 19-month-old myself, and I couldn't put it in my system to do something like that."
Wigstrom is currently in jail, awaiting arraignment. She is charged with first-degree murder, and no bond has been set. Since Wigstrom claimed responsibility for the rum poisoning, it's unknown what charged the baby's father, Cesar Ruiz, will face. He is still behind bars awaiting word on his fate.
