Texas Couple Jailed for Manslaughter After Infant Daughter Dies of 'Mixed Drug Toxicity'

The parents of the 2-month-old both allegedly admitted to giving the infant Benadryl on prior occasions

Adam Canales and Sarah Canales. Photo: Lubbock County Sheriff's Office

A 2-month-old Texas girl is dead after her parents allegedly gave her allergy medication, and now those parents are in jail on charges of manslaughter.

Adam Canales Jr., 30, and Sarah Canales, 21, were arrested Thursday, PEOPLE confirms through online jail records.

An obituary notice gives the name of their deceased infant as Athena Brigida-Kay Canales, and identified her as one of six children in the family.

An autopsy determined the baby died of "mixed drug toxicity," reports KLBK-TV.

Lubbock County Sheriff's deputies who responded to the couple's Idalou home around 4 p.m. on July 11, 2021, found the child already dead, according to an arrest warrant cited by the TV station.

An initial investigation determined the father was watching the baby while the mother was away, the sheriff's department said in a statement obtained by the outlet. (The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.)

KCBD-TV reports that Adam told investigators his daughter had no medical conditions other than colic, and that he'd placed her in a bedroom rocker three hours earlier after a feeding. But when the child continued to cry, the father went to sleep on a couch; after he awoke and checked on the child, he discovered she wasn't breathing.

The father said he'd given the child "gas drops" but no other medication, KCBD reports.

The autopsy later detected diphenhydramine, doxylamine and dextromethorphan in the child's system, none of which should be given to infants, according to a coroner's report, which listed a cause of death as "mixed drug toxicity," KCBD reports.

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When questioned again, the father allegedly said he'd previously given the infant Benadryl on at least two occasions to help her sleep, according to the arrest warrant that also was obtained by KCBD.

The mother allegedly told investigators she'd also given her daughter Benadryl in response to a rash her daughter displayed, even though she said she knows Benadryl is not for infants because "doctors have told her not to and so does the bottle," according to the warrant.

Deputies who searched the home located a bottle of ZzzQuil, which contains diphenhydramine, and a bottle of children's multi-symptom cold medicine containing dextromethorphan. When asked if she had ever given the infant Nyquil — which contains acetaminophen, dextromethorphan and doxylamine — the mother answered "not on purpose," according to the warrant.

The online jail records do not list an attorney or attorneys for the couple, and it was unclear whether either parent had entered a plea. Bond for each was set at $100,000.