A babysitter has been jailed for 15 years for the death of an eight-month-old boy who she gave Benadryl to to make him go to sleep.
Lori Conley, 45, was sentenced on Wednesday for killing Haddix Mulkey in May last year.
She was looking after the baby boy and seven other children at her home in Columbus, Ohio, when she gave him two of the antihistamine pills to make him go to sleep.
Lori Conley, 45, looked down on Wednesday as she was jailed for 15 years for the death of eight-month-old Haddix Mulkey who died last year after she gave him two Benadryl tablets
He passed out and was later taken to hospital where doctors failed to revive him.
Conley was originally arrested for murder but the charge was downgraded to involuntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
On May 13, 2016, Haddix’s mother Katie left him in Conley’s care with several other children.
When he refused to settle, she gave him two of the strong antihistamine pills to try to get him to go to sleep.
Later, Conley found him unresponsive in his bouncy seat in the back bedroom of her home where she had placed him and his older sister Zayla.
Haddix was one of eight children the woman was looking after at her home in Columbus, Ohio, at the time
Conley is seen in her mugshot last year and during one of her first court appearances
Haddix was found unresponsive in his bouncy chair shortly after being given the drug
Haddix’s face had turned blue and he had stopped breathing.
Conley called 911 and paramedics arrived to rush the baby to hospital but he could not be saved.
A toxicology report later confirmed that the boy died as a result of an antihistamine overdose.
The boy’s mother Katie said she hoped his death served as a lesson to others not to give babies medicine to get them to sleep
Conley admitted to police that she had been trying to ‘calm him down’ when she gave him the adult dosage.
She was not a licensed day care provider but had been running an unofficial babysitting business out of her home with the help of her own two teenagers.
Haddix’s family has not yet spoken publicly of the woman’s sentence.
Before she accepted the plea deal, the boy’s grandmother told friends they were seeking the ‘maximum’ sentence for both murder and child endangerment – the two charges she initially faced.
Katie Mulkey has two other children.
After her son’s death, she pleaded with other parents and childminders not to make the same mistake Conley did.
‘This is a common practice that people think it’s OK to give your babies medicine to help them sleep. This didn’t have to happen,’ she told The Columbus Dispatch.
Haddix was being looked after with his older sister. His family has not commented on his killer’s sentence