02-07-2014, 02:33 PM
Death by Soda
![[Image: alexa-linbloom.jpg]](http://static1.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1605213.1391736134!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/index_635_390/alexa-linbloom.jpg)
They killed her over a sip of soda.
A Tennessee couple faces murder charges after Randall Lee Vaughn’s 5-year-old daughter died after being forced to drink two liters of soda and an excessive amount of water as a punishment two years ago, cops said Thursday.
Vaughn, 41, and his wife, Mary Lavonne Vaughn, 58, were arrested after the 25-month investigation found all the liquid caused little Alexa Linboom’s head to swell and herniate because of “acute fluid/water intoxication”.
Randall Lee Vaughn and Mary Lavonne Vaughn (pictured above, left) are both charged in the death of their daughter, Alexa Linboom (right), after they forced her to drink vast quantities of liquid as a punishment.
“They also failed to take care of the child once she was injured,” District Attorney General Berkeley Bell told the newspaper. “Our position is it was a matter of several hours after the child started exhibiting serious symptoms, after the child was screaming out in pain, went into a paralyzed state, and became unconscious.”
Alexa was forced to drink about five 12-ounce servings of grape soda on Jan. 1, 2012, after she took some of her stepmother's drink at the family’s Surgoinsville home without permission.
The parents brought the unresponsive girl to a local hospital, where she was later flown to a children’s hospital. She was pronounced brain dead and died on Jan. 3., 2012.
The parents each face charges of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child neglect and aggravated child abuse. They are being held in lieu of $500,000 bond and are scheduled to appear in court today.
“They treated this child so cruelly that it caused the child to die,” Bell told the newspaper. “I don’t know if their intent was to kill the child, but their intent certainly was to harm the child.”
Tennessee Department of Children's Services spokesman Rob Johnson confirmed that Alexa had lived in the home with five other children, some of whom were siblings and some of whom were half-siblings. The other children were removed from the house in Feb. 2013 and remain in DCS custody.
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/te...z2sf74ZlZd
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-dies-f...e-charged/
RIP Alexa Linboom.
They killed her over a sip of soda.
A Tennessee couple faces murder charges after Randall Lee Vaughn’s 5-year-old daughter died after being forced to drink two liters of soda and an excessive amount of water as a punishment two years ago, cops said Thursday.
Vaughn, 41, and his wife, Mary Lavonne Vaughn, 58, were arrested after the 25-month investigation found all the liquid caused little Alexa Linboom’s head to swell and herniate because of “acute fluid/water intoxication”.
Randall Lee Vaughn and Mary Lavonne Vaughn (pictured above, left) are both charged in the death of their daughter, Alexa Linboom (right), after they forced her to drink vast quantities of liquid as a punishment.
“They also failed to take care of the child once she was injured,” District Attorney General Berkeley Bell told the newspaper. “Our position is it was a matter of several hours after the child started exhibiting serious symptoms, after the child was screaming out in pain, went into a paralyzed state, and became unconscious.”
Alexa was forced to drink about five 12-ounce servings of grape soda on Jan. 1, 2012, after she took some of her stepmother's drink at the family’s Surgoinsville home without permission.
The parents brought the unresponsive girl to a local hospital, where she was later flown to a children’s hospital. She was pronounced brain dead and died on Jan. 3., 2012.
The parents each face charges of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child neglect and aggravated child abuse. They are being held in lieu of $500,000 bond and are scheduled to appear in court today.
“They treated this child so cruelly that it caused the child to die,” Bell told the newspaper. “I don’t know if their intent was to kill the child, but their intent certainly was to harm the child.”
Tennessee Department of Children's Services spokesman Rob Johnson confirmed that Alexa had lived in the home with five other children, some of whom were siblings and some of whom were half-siblings. The other children were removed from the house in Feb. 2013 and remain in DCS custody.
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/te...z2sf74ZlZd
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-dies-f...e-charged/
RIP Alexa Linboom.