A couple were arrested Wednesday, accused of forcing their infant son to drink sulfuric acid and then claiming he was the victim of contaminated baby formula.
Shelia Smith, 26, and Ricky Irby Sr., 29, both of North Chicago, were arrested on murder charges, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.They were ordered held in lieu of $1 million bond each after a brief hearing in Lake County Circuit Court.
The arrests and indictments came exactly five years after the couple's 3-month-old son, Quinten Irby, was poisoned.
The child lingered near death for more than two years with severe burn scars on his mouth and trachea. He also had one lung removed and was kept alive on a ventilator. Quinten died at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago on Aug. 26, 1986, when he was 2 1/2.
Investigators believe the parents forced sulfuric acid down the infant's throat on May 31, 1984, and then claimed he was poisoned by contaminated baby formula.
Irby filed a lawsuit in August 1987, charging negligence against the baby formula maker, Abbott Laboratories of North Chicago, and the grocery store where they say the formula was bought.
The lawsuit charged that the Similac with iron formula the couple gave to Quinten contained a "foreign and dangerous acidic and/or lye substance" and was "unfit for human consumption."
Irby withdrew the lawsuit a year ago.
Investigators said they were suspicious of the parents early in the case. Tests on the contents of Quinten's stomach found it to contain high concentrations of a substance believed to be pure sulfuric acid.