4-year-old girl dies after grandmother allegedly forced her to drink more than half a bottle of whiskey, police say
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) – A 4-year-old girl in Louisiana died after her grandmother allegedly forced her to binge drink whiskey as punishment, according to authorities.
Roxanne Record(Baton Rouge Police Department)
The grandmother, Roxanne Record, was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter in the 2022 death of 4-year-old China Record.
According to police, officers were dispatched to a home just before 11 a.m. on April 21, 2022, after reports of an unresponsive child.
The arrest warrant for Roxanne Record said firefighters and EMS personnel were already at the home trying to revive the child, but she died.
While investigating, detectives said the victim’s grandmother forced her to drink from a bottle of whiskey while the mother, Kadjah Record, allegedly watched.
The warrant said the toddler’s blood-alcohol content was .680.
The document said the grandmother and mother were angry because the child may have drunk from a bottle of whiskey on the counter, so the grandmother allegedly forced the toddler to drink the rest of the liquor in the bottle, which was possibly more than half full.
China allegedly had to drink the alcohol while on her knees in the hallway, and the victim’s mother was there but failed to stop the grandmother.
The arrest warrant said Roxanne Record told investigators, “she messed up” and “wanted to take full responsibility” for the child’s death.
The grandmother also reportedly said, “this went too far” and “she ruined everyone’s lives.”
Roxanne Record and Kadjah Record(Baton Rouge Police Department)
Kadjha Record allegedly admitted to seeing her mother leave the kitchen with the bottle. She said the bottle was empty when she returned and later saw the child was unresponsive. Investigators said she gave several inconsistent statements.
Kadjha Record was also arrested.
Sentencing for Roxanne is scheduled for Aug. 10; she faces up to 40 years in prison. Kadjha is scheduled to return to court next month.
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