Mom Accused of Forcing Her Kids to Drink Bleach and Killing 3-Year-Old Allegedly Blamed Incident on ‘Voodoo’ Spell

A Florida woman was arrested on Mother’s Day after she confessed to forcing her daughters to drink bleach and choking the youngest one to death. 

According to KATV, officers found the suspect—identified as Joanne Zephir—unconscious in her car outside a Poinciana church. Authorities say her 3-year-old was found in the backseat unresponsive, while her 8-year-old daughter was located near the church’s entrance. Zephir and her kids were immediately rushed to the hospital, where the youngest was ultimately pronounced dead. The oldest child was subsequently released to relatives.

The 36-year-old woman reportedly had an outstanding arrest warrant out of Orange County, Florida, for attempted murder and aggravated battery. Prior to the Sunday tragedy, Zephir allegedly called a family member to say she planned to turn herself in for the Orange County incident; however, she wanted to spend some time with her daughters before she surrendered.

Osceola County Sheriff Marcos R. Lopez told reporters the mother called the relative several more times, and said she had forced her daughters to ingest bleach and admitted to choking the toddler to death. She allegedly said “the 8-year-old was also going to die, and then she would kill herself.”

During questioning, Zephir allegedly blamed a “voodoo spell” for her actions.

“The reason for doing this to her children was because the victim in Orange County must have put a voodoo spell on her, making her harm her children,” Lopez said during a press conference.

Zephir remains in custody at the Osceola County Jail on attempted murder and aggravated child abuse charges. Authorities said they are waiting on the medical examiner’s toxicology report before filing murder charges in connection to the 3-year-old’s death.