Charges Won’t Be Filed in Infant’s Death

A San Diego mother has been freed from jail because prosecutors decided not to charge her in the death of her 3-month-old daughter, whose death has been attributed to salt poisoning, authorities said.

Maria Rodriguez, 25, was freed Thursday night after prosecutors notified Municipal Judge Jay Bloom that no action would be taken against her in the March 10 death of her infant, Griselda.

Rodriguez said she awoke that morning and found the child had stopped breathing. Police responded to an emergency call but were unable to resuscitate the child, who was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital.

Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday. The decision not to file charges was made after a review of the evidence in the case, but the baby’s death remains under investigation, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Madruga.

Doctors with no connection to the case said there could have been several natural causes of the infant’s death.

An autopsy showed that the baby’s system had high levels of sodium, potassium and chloride compounds. The county medical examiner’s office listed the cause of death as salt poisoning.

Too much table salt can be a fatal poison, and would elevate levels of sodium and chlorides in the body, said Dr. Anthony Manoguerra, director of the regional poison center at UCSD Medical Center. But table salt won’t boost potassium levels, he said, and it remains a mystery why the child’s levels of potassium, sodium and chloride got so high.

The child’s father, Filimon Bustos, 24, said he believes the baby died of natural causes that his wife was helpless to prevent.

“I don’t know how this could have happened, but I know that she is 100% innocent,” he said.

The couple have four other children, ranging in age from 1 to 7 years.