Mother gave her young daughters harmful milk that was actually bleach, then strangled the 3-year-old when it failed to have the desired effect.
Footage from body cameras captures deputies leading a mother, accused of murder, out of the hospital. She allegedly made both her children consume bleach and strangled one of them to death.
According to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Joanne Zephir recently stabbed her husband, picked up their young daughters from a relative’s home, and then made the girls drink bleach in a parking lot. Prosecutors report that the 3-year-old child was strangled to death. Authorities reported that Zephir was hospitalized following a suicide attempt.
In the early hours of May 8, 2022, deputies arrived after the defendant reportedly contacted her sister-in-law to disclose her actions. Documents reveal that the sister-in-law requested a conversation with the 8-year-old surviving daughter. Zephir handed the phone to the child, and the sister-in-law urged them to run.
Authorities quickly located the 8-year-old girl along with Zaphir and her 3-year-old daughter in a vehicle.
“Joanne was found sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle and deputies noticed she appeared lethargic and was drooling from the mouth,” they wrote.
A 3-year-old was found unresponsive in a child seat in the back.
“Deputies reported they could smell a strong odor of bleach emitting from the interior of the vehicle,” they wrote.
Emergency services made efforts to rescue the child.
An 8-year-old girl informed investigators at the hospital that her mother had collected her and her younger sister from their aunt’s house and drove them to a parking lot, where they rested for a while.
“After their nap, her mother made her and her sister drink a ‘special milk’ that she told them would clean their ‘bellies,’” authorities wrote. “The 8-year-old explained her mother first made her 3-year-old sister drink the milk, but her sister told Joanne that the milk was ‘yucky.’ Joanne told her the milk was good for her and she had to drink it and then proceeded to make the 3-year-old drink about half the bottle of milk.”
Zephir reportedly provided the “milk” to the 8-year-old for consumption. The child informed investigators that she took three large sips before being sick. Documents reveal her description of an unpleasant odor, reminiscent of pickles, and a burning sensation on her tongue.
“The 8-year-old female stated her mother put her sister back in the car and she was no longer breathing and she had died,” they wrote.
Zephir reportedly confessed after being read her rights to stabbing her husband prior to collecting the girls from their aunt’s residence.
“Joanne stated after she killed her ‘babies’ she decided to try to kill herself,” they wrote, later noting that she believed both daughters had died. “Joanne advised she drank a considerable amount of bleach in an attempt to commit suicide.”
Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty, but a plea deal has been proposed. Zephir recently attempted to change her attorney, but the court denied her request, stating that she was “not being rendered ineffective counsel.” Her lawyer, Junior Barrett, is employed by the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel. The local public defender’s office stepped back in July 2022.