Mothers kills mentally challenged son by feeding him hand sanitizer

September 17, 2015 9:30 PM

The tragic 17-month-old was born with Down's syndrome and another condition that left him with holes in his heart.

17-month-old Luis Ruiz with down syndrome, killed after his mother injected hand sanitizer into his feeding tube

A mother, Erika Wigstrom, has pleaded guilty to killing her Down’s syndrome child, 17 month old, Lucas Ruiz by injecting hand sanitiser into his feeding tube.

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She was sentenced to 40 years in jail yesterday, September 16.

His condition meant he needed surgery and a feeding tube which Wigstrom used to poison him on January 23.

She confessed to her crime, after a post mortem later showed the toddler's blood-alcohol content was 0.28 per cent and the police called her in for questioning upon receiving the report.

The 22-year-old mother claims she did it as an act of mercy, however, the prosecutors refuted her claims and alleged that she made a similar attempt to take her child's life few months after he was born.

While little Lucas was in hospital, it is alleged Wigstrom gave her son an alcohol-based perfume, injected through his feeding tube.

According to the Times-Picayune newspaper, Wigstrom had originally been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

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These were dropped after the mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter.