A West Virginia couple has been accused of killing their infant daughter by rubbing alcohol on her gums in frequent deadly attempts to calm her down.
James Smith, 34, and Angel Talbert, 23, of Gassaway, have been charged with murdering their four-month-old child after a report revealed she had a lethal amount of alcohol in her system when she died.
On the early morning of November 16, 2024, Smith reportedly found the baby face-down and not breathing. Smith then urged Talbert to call 911 as he unsuccessfully tried to revive their child, who’s face was ‘discolored,’ police said.
The parents started driving her to the hospital but were met by an ambulance on the way there, according to a criminal complaint.
Just over 15 minutes after the baby was loaded into the emergency vehicle, she was declared dead at the hospital.
Deputies were called to the hospital by the medical examiner to look into the then-unexplained death.
Smith and Talbert told police ‘the child had not been sick or had any pre-existing health conditions,’ according to the complaint, obtained by WBOY. Upon investigating their home, cops described the roach-invested residence as having ‘very poor’ and unsanitary living conditions.
There was allegedly no running water in the kitchen or the bathroom. Police also stumbled across a ‘smoking apparatus,’ which Smith said they used to get high off marijuana.
Despite the reportedly unsafe circumstances of their house, Smith and Talbert were not charged with anything until post-mortem exam results came back, revealing the shocking cause of the child’s death.
On April 10, police reviewed the coroner’s office report, which found the infant’s liver had a 3.210 ethanol level – a deadly amount of a small baby.
The alleged-killer parents were called to a West Virginia State police station in Sutton, where they doubled down on their previous argument that their daughter was in good health, adding she was not on any medication.
Two days later on April 16, they were summoned back to the station and reportedly made their jaw-dropping admissions to investigators.
Talbert told police Smith ‘would take alcohol and rub on the infant child’s gums and around her mouth when the infant would get irritable and fussy,’ WBOY reported.
Smith added to her point, clarifying they ‘would both rub alcohol on the infant’s gums and they had done it almost every day for a month prior to the infant’s death,’ police said.
Talbert (left) and Smith (right) originally told deputies their baby was in good health and did not mention giving her alcohol until their third interview
Rubbing alcohol on a baby’s gums is a fiercely frowned-upon old wives’ tale meant to soothe children who are teething and help them sleep.
However, giving an infant any amount of alcohol, no matter how small, is very dangerous, experts say.
‘Parents should never apply alcohol to the gums as it can be poisonous to young bodies which are not developed enough to safely handle alcohol,’ according to the Instead, parents can turn to safe, at-home remedies, such as allowing their baby to chew on a chilled banana slice under close supervision to avoid choking, the center wrote.
Talbert and Smith were arrested after they revealed their lethal parenting habit. Their charges include first-degree murder, child neglect resulting in death and conspiracy.
They are both being held without bond at Central Regional Jail in Flatwoods, West Virginia, WBOY reported.