HORRIFIC

S.C. Woman Sentenced to 30 Years for Feeding Baby ‘Lethal’ Amount of Salt

She admitted to poisoning her 17-month-old in an effort to reconcile with her estranged husband.

A 25-year-old South Carolina woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for homicide by child abuse after she pleaded guilty to feeding her child a “lethal” amount of salt, according to the Associated Press. Kimberly N. Martines, of Spartanburg County, admitted to poisoning 17-month-old Peyton Martines in 2016, saying the act was an attempt to get her estranged husband back. She initially told investigators that Peyton and her twin sister got into a bag of salt that was left out in the open. According to CBS-7, Martines claimed the “twins covered themselves in salt, but she bathed them and put them to bed.” The mother admitted to the crime after her 4-year-old son told authorities he saw his mom give his sister a spoonful of salt. An autopsy listed “clinical brain death secondary to a high concentration of sodium” as the 17-month-old baby’s official cause of death.