Who is Jesika Jones? Dallas mother poisons daughter, 4, with Benadryl to fake seizure disorder

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During the child’s previous hospital visits, the medical staff analyzed the girl’s urine and found high amounts of anti-allergy medication in her system. Those results, however, reportedly came back after the child had already been discharged from the hospital. After checking the child into the facility on June 19, the medical staff again took a urine sample and ordered an expedited return on the results. The child then remained at the hospital until June 23. During that time, Jones allegedly accompanied her child into the bathroom multiple times per day. 

The Star-Telegram reported “Each time, according to the arrest warrant, Jones carried her purse in with her. An hour after the bathroom visits, the child had full body tremors, dilated pupils, elevated heart rate, and could not stand on her own. Those symptoms, according to doctors’ statements in the affidavit, are indicative of Benadryl poisoning.” Jones told doctors she had not given any medication to her child. However, on June 19, 20, and 23, the child’s urine samples were positive for Benadryl. 

On June 23, Dr Jamye Coffman, a child abuse pediatrician at Cook Children’s Medical Center, called Detective Michael Weber at the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. Doctors at the hospital said they were concerned that when Jones took her daughter to the bathroom, she was dosing her daughter with Benadryl to make it look like her daughter had a seizure disorder. In order for the child to have the symptoms she had, the dosage of Benadryl would have to be high, Coffman said. Another doctor also told Weber that on June 24, Jones blurted out without prompting, “I haven’t given Benadryl in months,” the warrant states. 

On June 24, Weber interviewed Jones and asked her about her child’s medical history. According to the warrant, Jones said her daughter had been having seizures and shaking episodes since November 2021. When Weber asked whether Jones had given her daughter Benadryl while she had been in the hospital, Jones said she had not. She said she did have Benadryl in her purse, but it was for her own allergies. However, Weber confronted Jones about her daughter’s urine samples, and Jones admitted she had given her daughter two adult Benadryl pills because she could not sleep, the warrant states. Eventually, Jones broke down and said she gave her daughter more Benadryl than she should. 

Jones told Weber she gave her daughter four to five 25 mg adult Benadryl tablets on multiple occasions while in the hospital. According to Benadryl’s dosage guidelines, 4-year-olds should not be given Benadryl unless directed by a doctor. The dosage amount for 6- to 11-year-olds is one 25 mg tablet every four to six hours. “I think I’m a horrible person. I don’t love myself. I don’t like who I am. I’m tired of living life like this. I’m tired of hurting people emotionally, medically,” the arrest warrant states that Jones told Weber. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I just know I need help. I really do. I want help.”

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She also allegedly referred to herself as a “habitual liar.” Approximately one week later, doctors reportedly told investigators that Jones’ daughter’s urinalysis came back positive for Benadryl, Trazodone, and Hydroxyzine. The man who lived with Jones said he reported “Munchausen by proxy” concerns to Child Protective Services on several occasions, but those cases were either ruled out for abuse or ruled “unable to determine.” Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a condition in which a caretaker, often a mother, fakes symptoms in someone else, usually a child. Jones is currently being held at the Tarrant County Corrections Center on a $10,000 bond.