Jennifer Mothershead Allegedly Bleaches Daughter's Eyes

Jennifer Mothershead, 29, is accused of putting bleach in her 14-month-old daughter's eyes.

TACOMA, Wash. -- Prosecutors have accused a Washington state woman of repeatedly putting bleach into her daughter's eyes, causing permanent vision loss in the toddler's right eye.

Jennifer Mothershead was arrested Friday and was charged with assault after a lengthy investigation.

Authorities say her daughter was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in May 2011 after sustaining a serious head injury. The girl, who was 14 months old at the time, also had an eye infection. Doctors called the Pierce County Sheriff's Department because they suspected the head injury was a result of abuse.

Mothershead told a detective her daughter started to have an eye issue in March 2011 after playing in a barn. She said the girl received antibiotics and eye drops, but Mothershead didn't provide an explanation for the head injury and, according to the detective, didn't show any emotion about her daughter's injuries.

The detectives placed the girl in state protective custody.

Mothershead had brought the eye drops to the hospital, and a staff member later opened the drops and noticed a foul odor. Investigators sent the drops to the Food and Drug Administration's Forensic Chemistry Lab for analysis. The lab determined the drops contained bleach.

"The staff at Harborview determined that the damage to the child's eyes was consistent with repeated exposure to bleach, and ruled out any possibility that the eye dropper had been merely cleaned with bleach," prosecutors said in a statement.

The girl's condition improved in the hospital, but doctors noted she'd lost vision in her right eye. The girl now lives with her father.

Mothershead, 29, of Buckley pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault of a child Monday. Mothershead was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

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Comments

[Tava524]

06:25 PM on 05/08/2012

I sure hope there is some explanation of why she would put bleach in her daughters eye. It seems like she didn't know it was bleach. It just doesn't make since. Also I wonder how did the child sustain a head injury.

[SGillLondonUK]

07:28 PM on 11/03/2012

The article was unclear about the injury,but on the subject of the bleach, there are lots of other factors to be considered, for example, it could be that the batch was conaminated at the factory?

[Zilvernation]

05:43 AM on 05/05/2012

Wish we were given more information about the head injury

[Tava524]

06:23 PM on 05/08/2012

yeah me too.

[PolarStorm]

11:18 AM on 05/22/2012

subdural hematoma. Her head wasnt fully developed yet and she fell and hit it. Aparrently this is todays version of child abuse, taking your eyes off of the child for two seconds.

[ECJIM 3ABTPA BONHA]

05:12 PM on 05/04/2012

Crazy...

[ATLBravesFan]

04:40 PM on 05/04/2012

That poor baby!

[nevaehs mama]

01:22 PM on 05/04/2012

she is a bad person. i hope she gets a long sentence in prison, and never has children again.

[SeeTheFnords]

07:09 AM on 05/04/2012

This is a terrible thing to have done to her own daughter. I really hope that she didn't think she was helping by putting bleach in the eyedrops. I know that bleach kills most germs, but it's not intended to be used to help fight eye infections. She needs a proper medical and psych evaluation.

[Cindy Pardy]

11:54 PM on 05/03/2012

Oh brother....after reading a few of the comments below just have to point out that children over the ages have been at the mercy of their family or worse. Thankfully there is the desire and ability to intervene and save these children from a parent/person that has not had the same help they so obviously needed. Mental illness is complicated

[rudewaitress]

11:53 PM on 05/02/2012

Mental midgets having children and being left alone to take care of them. It seems epidemic lately.

[Lorraine Danese]

05:18 PM on 05/02/2012

Hate 2 say it or we want 2 believe she is Mental ? I mean how can a Normal person whatever Normal is bleach someone s eyes out!! I pray for child and lock her away in an institution or Jail ? Sick sad , and a blind Child!

[shawnepink]

04:14 PM on 05/02/2012

God, someone has to protect our children! I am afraid for our kids.

[scud420]

08:10 PM on 05/02/2012

apparently god doesn't hear you or isn't there.

[nevaehs mama]

01:23 PM on 05/04/2012

way to rain on someones parade...negative nelly

[Dodges]

02:37 PM on 05/04/2012

Or worse, says "No."

[Julianasmom]

03:28 PM on 05/02/2012

How can someone be this cruel ? This is your child for Christ sakes! HOW? WHY???? This disturbed human being should be locked up for a very long time, at least until the child is an adult and completely safe from her abuse and torture.

[scrapper7]

03:26 PM on 05/02/2012

What a horrific, hateful and absolutely evil thing to do to a baby! Let alone, your OWN baby! Or anyone else, for that matter!

Judging just from the photograph in this article, I find it no surprise Mothershead showed 'no emotion at all.' How could anyone who can perpetrate such an act, have any emotion...let alone SHOW it!?

It's no wonder our prisons are bursting at the seams! This kind of EVIL is becoming all too common! The tragic offenses committed against our innocent children are treated as yesterday's news. We too conveniently forget the thousands of little victims we bury each year. One or two may make for good copy for awhile, but then the story gets buried in the back pages.

After that, the only ones who remember vividly, are the families.

[goboinouterspace]

05:20 PM on 05/03/2012

This is NOT the reason out prisons are "bursting at the seams," and there is nothing common about it.

This is a tragedy and a crime - the two main ingredients for sensationalist journalism.

[scrapper7]

09:50 AM on 05/04/2012

YOU'VE INTERPRETED MY COMMENT TOTALLY OUT OF CONTEXT.

[huff-puff-bluff]

03:16 PM on 05/04/2012

Exactloy right. our prisons are (in MANY States) over crowded for minor drufg possessions or minor drug addicts who have run out of State Aid for rehab so they are imprisoned. of course we still have the usual crowd of murderers, rapists, sociolpaths, and basic crimes (assualt, robbery etc) but prisions are not ver wroded due to 'this" kind of behavior-- too many sensational journalism stories lately have people feeling panicked that 'everyone' is a psychotic now. Yo uare right. no matter, this person needs to be locked away for 40+ years.

[carmillivanilli]

03:24 PM on 05/02/2012

This story reeks of Munchhausen by proxy to me. The woman keeping the bleach in the eye drops like "medicine" is what raised my eyebrows.

[AndresHRecalde]

01:45 PM on 05/02/2012

Monster.

[Bergen2]

11:48 AM on 05/02/2012

It doesn't make sense that the mother would "bring the drops to the hospital" if she knew that she was doing something wrong.

[kareemachan]

02:14 PM on 05/02/2012

Read up on Munchausen Syndrome. It might have been that.

[thisoldbroad]

08:41 PM on 05/02/2012

Don't think so. Aren't the mothers doing MS seeking sympathy & praise for the devotion to their sick child? I don't see that with this woman. She has shown no emotion for her actions, especially not remorse. think this 1 is a straight up child abuser.

[goboinouterspace]

05:24 PM on 05/03/2012

Maybe she was taking bad advice (like an old wive's remedy), and the reason she seems to "emotionally withdrawn" is because she knows her child is alive, even if harmed, and she knows she is essentially innocent of intentionally trying to harm her daughter.