More than two-and-a-half years after
Daisy Marie Froeba died of methamphetamine toxicity, a Jefferson Parish grand jury charged her mother, Brandie Froeba, with second-degree murder for allegedly breastfeeding the six-week-old infant after taking the drug.
Froeba, 37, of Kenner, was indicted Thursday, according to court records. She had been released from jail in May 2019 on a reduced $75,000 bond. But the court re-instated her original $250,000 bond after the indictment.
An attachment was issued for Froeba's arrest. She had not surrendered to authorities as of Friday morning, according to court records. Her attorney, Greg Noto, declined to comment.
Daisy was born in June 2018, and was Froeba's fourth child, according to the Kenner Police Department, which handled the investigation.
The department received a 911 call on the afternoon of Aug. 16, 2018, requesting medical help for the baby because she wasn't breathing. Paramedics found the baby lying on a bed with a small amount of blood in her mouth, authorities said. Froeba also had blood on her shirt.
Froeba told police she had fallen asleep while nursing Daisy. When she woke and prepared to bathe her daughter, Froeba noticed the baby wasn't breathing, according to authorities.
Officers said Froeba had slurred speech and seemed lethargic, according to Kenner police. Froeba agreed to take a blood test.
Daisy was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead just before 5 p.m. the same day. Two months later, toxicology tests determined the baby had died of methamphetamine toxicity, Kenner police said.
Froeba's blood test showed that she, too, had the drug in her system on the day Daisy died, according to authorities.
The youngest of Froeba's three surviving children tested positive for opiates and marijuana when born in 2016, Kenner police said. Authorities, at the time, gave Froeba information about the dangers of using drugs while pregnant or breastfeeding.
After investigating the case for several months, Kenner detectives booked Froeba on March 8, 2019, with second-degree murder.
In June 2020, with no formal charges filed by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office yet, the court again granted a request from Froeba that she be allowed to have supervised visits with her children, court records said.
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