(WHDH) — A Florida mother is facing criminal charges after authorities say she forced her two young daughters to drink bleach, killing one of them on Mother’s Day.
Joanne Zephir, 36, was arrested Sunday on charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery, according to Osceola County Sheriff Marcos R. Lopez.
Deputies responding to a report of a suspicious incident on Old Pleasant Hill Road in the Poinciana area around midnight found Zephir unconscious in the driver’s seat of her car, a 3-year-old girl unconscious in the back seat, and an 8-year-old girl in the roadway near the entrance to a church, Lopez said during a news conference.
Zephir and her children were taken to the hospital, where the 3-year-old was pronounced dead. The 8-year-old was released into the custody of a family member.
Zephir later confessed to making her daughters drink bleach from a “makeshift drinking glass” because someone had put a “voodoo spell” on her, Lopez said.
Lopez noted his office is waiting for official word from the medical examiner’s office before filing a murder charge against Zephir.
An investigation remains ongoing.
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