Jeffrey Ryan Thomas appeared Monday in Crow Wing County District Court in Brainerd, where he was charged with first-degree attempted murder with premeditation, second-degree attempted murder without premeditation and first-degree assault to cause great bodily harm.

According to the probable cause court document, the Brainerd Police Department was contacted Jan. 20 by a pediatrician regarding concerns for a 4-month-old baby girl, who was currently in their care and was critically ill. The baby's medical providers had reason to believe she was poisoned by ingesting ethylene glycol, which due to her age and lack of mobility, would have likely been provided to her by her caregivers.

The baby was admitted to Minneapolis Children's Hospital after she was airlifted from the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center emergency department due to her critical condition. Testing on the girl showed ingestion of ethylene glycol, which is commonly found in antifreeze and de-icing fluids, the complaint stated.

During the time frame leading up to the baby's onset of symptoms, she was being cared for by Thomas and his wife, who is not the baby's biological mother. Thomas prepared and fed her a bottle at 1 a.m. Jan. 18 and put her to sleep. Thomas reported the baby vomited a large amount of liquid sometime about 2:30 a.m. He got up and changed her clothing and bedding, and put her back to bed, Thomas said.

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The baby was on a strict feeding schedule and would generally eat every three hours. She did not eat at 4 a.m. and ate very little at her 7 a.m. feeding. Following the 7 a.m. feeding, the baby vomited again. The baby became more and more ill throughout the day. Later on Jan. 18, the baby was brought to CRMC and immediately airlifted to Minneapolis Children's Hospital, where she was placed in intensive care and was in critical condition.

The baby recovered and was discharged from the Intensive Care Unit about Jan. 24 and from Minneapolis Children's Hospital on Feb. 9. She is currently residing in foster care.

During the course of the investigation, Thomas told officials he prepared the bottles given to the baby prior to her becoming critically ill. Thomas and his wife denied the existence of any antifreeze in the home. Thomas stated he had some plastic jugs of extremely watered down antifreeze in the garage, which he stated were likely mostly water, the complaint stated. Thomas searched for some antifreeze in December 2017 when he was working on a snowmobile and knew there to be no antifreeze in their home, he said.

Brainerd police obtained a warrant to search Thomas' home. Officers located a jug of antifreeze in the basement of Thomas' home, directly next to paint supplies.

Following a Jan. 20 interview with Thomas' wife, she provided the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents with the bottle of formula most recently fed to the baby prior to her hospitalization. The contents of the bottle of formula provided to agents was analyzed, and it was determined the bottle contained baby formula and ethanol.

A bottle of unknown purple liquid was located outside the home in the yard. BCA lab tests results indicate ethanol was present in the purple liquid. A search of the defendant's phone revealed he'd accessed the Wikipedia page for ethylene glycol poisoning, the complaint stated, which noted ethanol is a potential antidote for that type of poisoning.

Searches of Thomas' and his wife's cellphones contained text messaging depicting significant issues surrounding the paternity of the baby and the woman's dislike of the baby, according to court documents.