Investigators have released chilling new audio of a Kentucky mother confessing to exposing her eight-month-old baby girl to heroin after she had traces of the drug on her hands.
Brianne Ehlinger, 33, and Shawn Gardner, 35, were both arrested in November of 2023 after their eight-month-old daughter went into respiratory arrest.
Now Boone County investigators have made public audio in which Ehlinger can be heard confessing to how her child overdosed.
'It's a lot,' the detective can be heard saying. It never should have happened,' Ehlinger says, tearfully.
The detective is then heard telling her in audio aired by Fox 19: 'Yeah, yeah. It definitely never should have happened. But from here, this is how we moved forward and makes things better.'
Brianne Ehlinger, 33, is pictured with a different baby, and not the one that overdosed on heroin. She confessed to exposing her eight-month-old baby girl to heroin
Ehlinger is pictured with her partner Shawn Gardner, 35. Both were arrested in November of 2023 following the overdose of their baby
The overdose happened at the family home in Burlington, Kentucky, in Boone County
Ehlinger, who has given birth to at least three children, explained how she had a drug addiction since she was 18 years old but had been clean for two years having completing a treatment program.
However, she told the detective how had recently suffered a relapse and made a tragic mistake after using the drug.
'Later on, I was playing with my kids, and I thought she had something in her mouth,' the mother explained.
'So, I put my finger in her mouth to check her mouth, and then she kinda, like... she wasn't breathing, like something was going on. So, we called 911 and I didn't even think about something being on my hands,'
Ehlinger had accidentally allowed her baby to ingest the drug after forgetting to wash her hands.
Brianne Ehlinger, 33, and Shawn Gardner, 35, were arrested in November of 2023
Brianne Ehlinger is seen with Boone County officers during her initial arrest in November 2023
The couple have had at least three children together over the years
After realizing something was wrong with her baby, it was then her partner Gardner who called 911.
'Me and my sister gave her CPR because she was still kind of breathing, but she was going out of it,' Ehlinger explained to the detective.
Paramedics arrived at the home and were able to administer Narcan to reverse the opioid overdose.
Incredibly, the baby survived and after spending a few days being cared for in Cincinnati Children's Hospital, she was later released.
Ehlinger is pictured alongside another of her daughter's in a photo on her Facebook page
Gardner is seen playing with one of his daughters in photos posted to social media
After realizing something was wrong with her baby, it was then her partner Gardner who called 911 and paramedics arrived at the home
Alongside the confession, Ehlinger told officers that her partner, Gardner, who had also undergone a treatment program in the past, had given her the drugs.
Ehlinger completed a treatment program in 2019 while Gardner also underwent a drug treatment from which he ‘graduated’ in 2016. But both appeared to have relapsed in recent years.
The pair were arrested in May with Ehlinger pleading guilty to wanton endangerment and endangering the welfare of a minor.
She will be sentenced later this month and faces between one and five years in prison.
Gardner will also be in court later in July to face similar charges.
The child has since been taken into care under the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
