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Mom Gives Toddler Morphine Instead of Sleep Aid, Killing Him: Prosecutors

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COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Austin woman has been charged in the death of her 14-month-old son after the toddler died of a morphine overdose.

Morgan Ellis, 24, told police she gave her son, Makhari James, an herbal sleep aid in his juice before the boy went to bed on Nov. 18, prosecutors said.

Makhari was dead by morning, and a toxicology report shows he had morphine in his blood and tissue, Assistant State's Attorney Marilyn Salas-Wail said during a bond hearing Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, Ellis kept the herbal sleep aid in the same refrigerator her aunt used to store a morphine prescription. The morphine was kept on a high shelf, and the bottles do not look similar, Salas-Wail said.

Ellis was arrested this week and charged with child endangerment causing death.

When Makhari went to bed about 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 18, he looked "normal and playful," according to Salas-Wail. Ellis joined the boy in a bed they shared about 11 p.m.

When Ellis awoke the next morning, her son was unresponsive, prosecutors said. She called 911, and Makhari was rushed to West Suburban Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 6:50 a.m. on Nov. 19.

An autopsy conducted the following day was inconclusive, Salas-Wail said. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office collected blood and tissue samples for a toxicology report, which was completed by Feb. 17.

According to prosecutors, Ellis' aunt has a medical condition that requires several medications. She allegedly keeps morphine in two places: a high refrigerator shelf and a top drawer in her dresser. Makhari had no access to the morphine, Salas-Wail said.

A medical examiner told investigators there's no way the herbal sleep aid would appear as morphine in a toxicology report.

Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Wednesday ordered Ellis held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

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