Brainerd Man Charged With Attempted Murder of Four-Month-Old

Jeffrey Ryan Thomas

A 23-year-old Brainerd man is charged with first degree attempted murder after allegedly poisoning a four-moth-old baby girl by allegedly feeding her antifreeze.

Jeffrey Ryan Thomas was in Crow Wing County Court on Monday and charged with three felonies including first degree attempted murder with premeditation, second degree attempted murder with no premeditation and first degree assault-great bodily harm. Thomas will be back in court on March 12 at 8:30 a.m. for a Rule 8 Hearing.

According to the probable cause statement, the Brainerd Police Department was contacted by Doctor Mark Hudson, a Medical Director and Child Abuse Pediatrician with the Midwest Children’s Resource Center back on January 20, 2018. The four-month-old was in their care and was critically ill at the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital after being airlifted from the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center emergency department. Doctors believe the reason for her illness was due to be poison by ingesting ethylene glycol, which due to her age and lack of mobility was likely provided by her care givers.

Upon further testing done at the Mayo Clinic, the results showed oxalic acid and ethylene glycol in her system, which is a consistent combination found in antifreeze and de-icing fluids.

According to the probable cause, the baby was being cared for by Thomas and his wife, who was not the biological mother of the child. During the time leading up to the symptoms on January 20, the defendant prepared a bottle for the baby around 1 a.m. on January 18 and put her to sleep. Around 2:30 a.m. he noticed the baby vomited a large amount of liquid, so he changed her and put her back to bed.

Both Thomas and his wife said the baby was on a strict eating schedule and ate every three hours. Although she did not eat at the 4 a.m. feeding that day and ate very little at 7 a.m. The four-month-old vomited again and was becoming more ill throughout the day, according to the statement. Later that day the baby was taken to the emergency department. After extensive care at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital the baby was discharged from the Intensive Care Unit on Jan. 24. released from the hospital on Feb. 9 and is currently in foster care.

During the investigation, both Thomas and his wife denied having any antifreeze in the house but Thomas stated there were some plastic jugs with extremely watered down antifreeze in the garage according to the probable cause.

The Brainerd Police Department obtained a search warrant for the home on Jan. 20 where they located a jug of antifreeze in the basement, directly next to paint supplies. Which the defendant said he had been working on multiple remodeling home projects at the time. During the search, the officers also collected infant bedding containing vomit that tested positive for ethylene glycol.

Additionally, the defendant’s wife provided the contents of a bottle of formula, which were analyzed and contained baby formula and ethanol. A bottle of unknown purple liquid was located outside the house during the search warrant execution and BCA lab results indicate that ethanol was present in the purple liquid. Ethanol is identified as a potential antidote to ethylene glycol poisoning in the Wikipedia page that was noted in the defendant’s phone search.

According to the probable cause, a search of the defendant and his wife’s phone lead to the discovery of text messages concerning issues about the paternity of the baby and the wife’s dislike of the baby. On January 12, there was a Google Search for “Ethlene glycol” and “what does antifreeze do to the human body”. When questioned about the search, Thomas claimed he was doing a search for his mother after a phone conversation about her sick cat and wondered if it was poisoned with antifreeze.

The defendant had not completed a genetic paternity test of Jan. 18, 2018, but DNA was collected and sent to the BCA for testing. The results have not been received as of yesterday.