GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — A mother accused of mixing an entire box of rat poison into smoothies for herself and her two daughters is facing two counts of first-degree attempted murder.
The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reports Maria Alvarado-Gomez, 32, of Carbondale, told investigators through an interpreter she “would rather the children be dead than alive in Mexico,” where she said the girls’ father wanted to take them. Court records do not say anything about the father wanting to leave with the girls.
Court documents indicate the poisoning took place Monday morning but was not reported until the next day when Alvarado-Gomez was at a regular doctor’s appointment complaining of trouble sleeping.
The girls, ages 8 and 11, were taken to a hospital and later released.
Alvarado-Gomez told investigators “she did not want to suffer anymore and she did not want her children to suffer anymore,” according to her arrest affidavit.
The girls’ father, Martin Luciano- Gonzalez, 46, consented to a search of the home, and he told police Alvarado-Gomez was getting counseling. The search turned up an empty container of rat poison containing brodifacoum, which impairs blood clotting by blocking vitamin K and can cause internal bleeding, according to the affidavit.
Symptoms of brodifacoum poisoning usually take a couple of days to become apparent, and the most common treatment is administration of vitamin K.
Milk, strawberries, sugar and ice cream failed to mask the taste of the poison, and when the children complained, Alvarado-Gomez told them she had put vitamins in the smoothies, according to the affidavit.