Colorado Woman Pleads Guilty To Her 5-Year-Old Daughter's Meth Overdose

A Colorado woman has pleaded guilty to murder in connection to the methamphetamine overdose and death of her 5-year-old daughter.

Stephanie Alvarado, 27, was charged with murder in the second degree and criminal trespass involving domestic violence on Thursday. She will get 16 to 48 years for the murder count and up to 6 more years for the domestic violence charge when she is sentenced on Jan. 29, reported Fox31 Denver.

Her daughter, Sophia Larson, died after drinking water from a bottle laced with methamphetamine on Dec. 11, 2019, according to the Garfield County Coroner's Office.

Alvarado reportedly waited hours before bringing her daughter to the hospital, despite seeing the child hallucinating after drinking from the bottle she didn't know was laced with methamphetamine.

According to a previous report by 13 WTHR, Alvarado put her daughter to bed around 10:30 p.m. on the fateful day and gave her some water from a plastic bottle. Sophia "had a disgusted look on her face" when she drank the water and even "tried to spit it out."

Alvarado, who thought the bottle smelled of methamphetamine, reportedly threw it away. She then gave her daughter water from another bottle and then put the child back to bed. A little while later, Sophia suddenly woke up and became "very energetic."

This prompted Alvarado's cousins Betha Ceballos-Romo and Daniel Bello Alvarado to recover the bottle from the trash. Upon examination, they noted that the bottle "smelled like meth bong water," reported 13 WTHR. Alvarado said that at that point, she wanted to call the child's father Alec Larson for help. However, her cousins told her to calm down.

Eventually, Sophia's condition worsened. She later died in the hospital, where a high dose of meth was found in her bloodstream.

The child's father, who attended the court in person, said Alvarado had been a good mother until becoming addicted to drugs about a year ago. Larson said Alvarado's drug use contributed to their breakup.

Larson said his ex showed up at his home just hours before she made her first court appearance in the murder case. She allegedly appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and even assaulted him.

Apart from Alvarado, her two cousins were also charged for the girl's death. The case against Daniel Alvarado is still pending, while the authorities found that Ceballos-Roma had been living in the U.S. illegally. She was deported to Mexico on Oct. 6.