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VIRGINIA BEACH, VA—Leandra Andrade, a 38-year-old mother from Washington DC, has been charged with second-degree murder following the tragic death of her two-year-old daughter, Lanoix Andrade. The incident occurred after Andrade fled to Virginia with her daughter, having lost a custody battle to the child’s father, Fabio E. Andrade, Jr., who was awarded full legal custody, Your Content has learned.
The grim discovery was made at the Cutty Sark motel on August 1, where Lanoix was pronounced dead at the scene, lying next to her unconscious mother. Emergency responders administered Narcan to Leandra Andrade, who was subsequently taken into custody and is now being held without bail.
The medical examiner’s office determined the cause of Lanoix’s death as “acute diphenhydramine toxicity,” a condition resulting from an overdose of Benadryl, a common over-the-counter allergy medication. The circumstances leading to the toddler’s fatal dosing have sparked a thorough investigation, shedding light on the desperate actions of a mother on the run.
Prior to the tragic event, Andrade had sent messages to a friend indicating a dire state of mind, suggesting she intended to harm herself and possibly her daughter. She referenced looking down on her friend from heaven and spoke of her daughter in the past tense, which raised immediate concern.
The custody battle that preceded this tragedy saw Andrade losing legal custody of her daughter to Fabio E. Andrade, Jr. Despite this, the parents still shared physical custody at the time Leandra Andrade absconded with Lanoix, leading to a fatal sequence of events,‘according to FLIPBOARD.
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