A South Carolina mother is accused of killing her 10-month-old daughter by giving the infant a lethal dose of morphine at the family’s home, authorities say.
Tynisha Lashae Jones, 34, was arrested and charged with one count of homicide by child abuse in connection with the death of Talayah Lucille Donaldson, according to court records.
The case began on Dec. 12, 2025, when paramedics were called to a home on Howland Drive around 11:44 a.m. after reports of an unresponsive infant, Greenville Fox affiliate WHNS reported.
First responders tried to revive the baby before rushing her to AnMed Health Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead. The Anderson County Coroner’s Office identified her as Talayah.
Detectives spoke with Jones and other people connected to the case and searched the Howland Drive residence. Investigators also took a blood sample from the infant and sent it off for lab testing, according to Greenville NBC affiliate WYFF.
Months later, the initial lab results came back showing a lethal level of morphine in the baby’s blood, and the death was ruled a homicide.
“What this case came down to was, the specimen was sent, the results were received and then our suspicions were immediately raised because children should not have morphine at all in their system, it’s not administered by any hospital or EMS staff that we knew of in Anderson County,” Anderson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kendall Cash told WYFF.
Cash said the amount of the drug found in the child’s system was so high it would have been “enough (morphine) for a grown person to overdose.”
The sample was reportedly retested twice more at the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s lab to verify the findings.
Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said officials wanted to be certain the results were accurate before concluding the drug caused the infant’s death.
“When we have a positive test we certainly want to make sure that it is positive and those drugs are indeed in fact a factor in that death, so in this case, the test was run more times,” he told WYFF.
After further interviews and a review of the evidence, investigators concluded that Jones had given her daughter the fatal dose of morphine.
No motive has been released so far.
Jones was booked into the Anderson County Detention Center, where she remains held without bond. It’s unclear when she is expected to appear in court.
