Advertisement Mother, accused of fatally poisoning child with salt, explained why she did it, solicitor says Kimberly Nicole Martines charged Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The mother accused of fatally poisoning her 17-month-old child said she fed the child salt to get her husband back into her life, according to Solicitor Barry Barnette.The child was pronounced brain dead on Tuesday and died Wednesday afternoon, Coroner Rusty Clevenger said. Medical personnel at Spartanburg Medical Center called the Sheriff’s Office Sunday morning about the toddler.The medical staff told investigators on Monday that the child was diagnosed with an acute case of salt poisoning. Too much sodium in the bloodstream, or salt poisoning, is called hypernatremia. Sodium is found in table salt, rock salt, pickling salt, and sea salt. Soy sauce contains high levels of sodium. Sodium is essential to human health, but too much sodium is poisonous.Hypernatremia causes water to rush out of cells. Loss of fluid from cells causes damage, especially to brain cells. As the cells shrink, they are torn out of their normal locations. Torn blood vessels and fluid buildup can cause seizures, fluid in the lungs and kidney damage.Sodium poisoning can cause seizures, coma and death.The child’s mother, Kimberly Nicole Martines, 23, was interviewed by special victims unit investigators Monday and Tuesday, and she confessed to feeding the victim a teaspoon of salt, deputies said. Investigators said that in November 2015, the child's pediatrician told Martines that he was concerned about the baby's lack of weight gain and developmental delays. The pediatrician referred Martines to a specialist, but she canceled the appointment.After consultation with the Solicitor’s Office, Martines was charged with felony child abuse. Due to the child's death on Wednesday, the solicitor decided to charge Martines with homicide by child abuse.In court, Barnette told the judge that Martines said she gave the child the salt to get her husband, the child's father, to take her back. "She was a great mother. She would've never done anything to hurt her kids at all," Martines' sister, Tiffany Lazar, told WYFF News 4's Mike McCormick after the bond hearing. "There's a lot more that went on than people understand. No one should judge her at all, and there's nothing in this world that would make her hurt her babies."The toddler’s twin sister and an older sibling have both been placed into protective custody with the Department of Social Services.The judge at the detention center was not able to set bond due to the severity of the charge. A circuit court judge will have to make a ruling on bond at a later date.