Curtis Jack of Georgia was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday for the attempted murder of his newborn daughter, Madison, in 2020.
Georgia father sentenced to 50 years for poisoning baby's milk with antifreeze to avoid paying child support.
Luckily the baby survived. pic.twitter.com/KUnk78lMNR
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Jack had a brief relationship in early 2020 with the child’s mother, whom he’d met while they both worked for Delta Air Lines. Jack allegedly pestered the child’s mother to abort Madison throughout the pregnancy, but she chose to let the baby live. She had the child on Sept. 24, 2020. The mother was hospitalized after giving birth.
He confessed while in police custody to adding antifreeze to his baby’s breastmilk so he wouldn’t have to pay child support but later rescinded the statement. He had picked up the milk on Oct. 1 from the child’s mother while she was in the hospital.
“After delivering the breastmilk to the child’s grandmother, who was also caring for the woman’s other daughter, the child became critically ill within 24 hours, suspected of being poisoned. Jack admitted to adding antifreeze to the breastmilk to South Fulton Police Department detectives,” police said in a statement on social media.
The baby was only 18 days old at the time and tested positive for ethylene glycol poisoning at the hospital on Oct. 16, 2020. Luckily, she survived, and Jack was arrested shortly after.
“During the trial, the State presented testimonies from the child’s mother, grandmother, law enforcement officers, and medical experts, including a demonstration of how easy it was to poison the breastmilk,” South Fulton police said.
The jury found Jack guilty of first-degree cruelty to children and criminal attempt to commit murder.
The baby is lucky to have survived. Antifreeze contains poisonous ingredients such as ethylene glycol, methanol and propylene glycol. As little as two tablespoons of some of these ingredients can kill a child.
Antifreeze poisoning can lead to permanent brain damage, kidney damage, blindness and symptoms that present similarly to Parkinson’s disease, among a host of other problems.
Madison’s mother says the now four-year-old is doing well, but has chosen not to make any other comments after Jack’s conviction.
