Double Tragedy: Mother Charged With Smothering Infant Son Sets Herself On Fire

July 10th, 2012 - By Brande Victorian

Source: joy105.com

Earlier this year, Toni Medrano, 29, of Cottage Grove, MN, was charged with manslaughter after her 3-week old son Aiden died of suffocation in November. Now, the woman has taken her own life. Overcome with grief, and according to some, the ridicule of HLN Cable News host Nancy Grace who reported on the story, the young woman set herself on fire in her mother’s back yard and died later at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

According to Twincities.com:

On the night of Nov. 21, 2011, Medrano allegedly drank a fifth of vodka before falling asleep on a couch in her Cottage Grove home. She slept next to her son.

About 10:30 a.m. the next day, police received a call that the baby had died. An autopsy found he was asphyxiated when Medrano fell asleep drunk and smothered him.

On June 8, Medrano was charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter by the county attorney’s office. Her blood-alcohol content was 0.11 in a breath test taken at 11:04 a.m. Nov. 22.

When Nancy Grace got a hold of the story, a segment aired about the mother on June 11 in which she was dubbed “the vodka mom” and many other news outlets followed along with cruel comments from observers. Toni’s husband, Jason Medrano told news outlets yesterday:

“The things people said were horrible. It shows that cyberbullying happens to adults, too.”

As happens with more bullied teens and adolescents than we’d care to think, Toni attempted to take her own life when at 4 am on July 2, she doused herself with a flammable liquid in her mother’s back yard in St. Paul Park. Five days later she succeeded when she succumbed to the life-threatening injuries she was rushed to the hospital with. Police concurred that she was “despondent and suicidal over personal issues,” the question is was one of those personal issues Nancy Grace’s badgering?

Chris Ison, professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, told Twin Cities no news program can be blamed for suicide but inappropriate reporting certainly could have contributed to the choice.

“There can be bad consequences,” he said. “It is troubling to track such serious topics and use them as entertainment — in a way that is sensational, mocking, accusatory and loud.

“One of the basic principles of journalism is to minimize harm, but we cause harm all the time. We have to weigh it against the value of the news presented, and shows like this one are out of balance.”

I wouldn’t say Nancy is directly to blame but her segment was certainly sensational as she poured vodka to demonstrate just how much Toni had to drink that night and seemed to have no regard for the personal issues that likely drove the mother to become so intoxicated in the first place. What’s even more interesting is this isn’t the first time someone attempted to pass the buck of blame for a suicide to the over-the-top host. ABC News says a Leesburg, FL, mother was considered a possible suspect when she told police in 2006 that her baby was missing. When she appeared on “Nancy Grace,” she was intensely interrogated and just one week later she killed herself .

So far, no one from the Nancy Grace show nor its parent company CNN have commented on the situation. I wonder if the host will have as much to say about this woman’s death as she did about her actions back in November.

Check out the clip of the “vodka mom” segment. Do you think Nancy can be held accountable at all?

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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  • Tricia

    I don’t always agree with Nancy, but after watching the video to see for myself, I agree with her this time. This was the woman’s sixth child, she should never had been drinking this much while the children were in her care. The children should have been under the care of a responsible caretaker or the woman should not have been drinking. A mother should be more responsible for the children she bares, this was such a stupid mistake that could have been avoided.

  • Nek

    That heffa NG can’t put any AAs on her show when they are missing, kids are missing unless there is outrage about the media is “NOT” involved. but can run her mouth about this woman? She should have been taken off the air.

  • Shut ‘Em Down!

    Yes Nancy Grace as well as Judge Judy are nothing more that bullies and I do not watch these shows. I hope the victim’s mother will sue Nancy Grace and expose her for what she really is.

  • icanbutiwont

    Where is the father?

  • http://twitter.com/WilkChristopher Christopher Wilk

    Now what do you have to say Nancy! This article was painful to read, I feel so sorry for the young lady mother. Accidents do happen, but people will condemn you in a heartbeat. In fact, that is Nancy Grace specialty, but it’s okay we all reap what we sow Nancy!

  • http://twitter.com/WilkChristopher Christopher Wilk

    Now what do you have to say Nancy! This article was painful to read, I feel so sorry for the young lady mother. Accidents do happen, but people will condemn you in a heartbeat. In fact, that is Nancy Grace specialty, but it’s okay we all reap what we sow Nancy!

  • Maldrie

    May she rest in peace but I don’t feel Nancy did anything wrong she called attention to an irresponsible mother the fact that she took her own life shows she knew she was wrong for drinking while watching her son, if you want to drink do not do it around your children, while alone with your children or anything else! So back up off of Nancy!

  • TruthHurts

    It seems that the idea of post partum being the cause or a symptom is never raised when the woman is black. When the woman is black she is just evil no good and had malicious intent. Point blank period. When she is white, there is more consideration and wondering, “Why would she do such a thing. There must be a reason.” And then she is assigned one. It all goes back to the long ingrained concept of which people are considered inherently good and which people are considered inherently bad.

  • guess1234

    The father need to be charge for manslaughter too he was in the house when it happien but because he is white and she is black. We know its not going to happen. No one ever ask why they dad get her medical attention. He didnt care for he he wanted he gone. If he cared none of it would of happen bottom line so i blame this on dad to not just the mom. Ask questions about that

    • http://www.facebook.com/kevin.british.12 Kevin British

      so much grammatical errors…what did the dad do?….stop making this a color issue…

  • chasity

    nancy grace is partly to blame, she is not prosecuting this case, she should be off tv…

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