This story will send a chill down the spine of all the parents who have pulled the use of an iPhone or smartphone from a teenager's grasp as a punishment - for anything from disrespectful actions to hardcore infractions such as taking a swing at a sibling.
Thanks to a keen sense of smell, a Colorado mother is alive and well after her 12-year-old daughter attempted to kill her twice, both times by adding bleach to her mother's liquid refreshments.
Apparently the Boulder, Colorado pre-teen was unhappy her mother yanked her iPhone away from her as a punitive action. The minor decided she wanted to kill her.
"She had pre-planned this a couple different times," said Sgt. Bill Crist from the Boulder County Sheriff's office.
In the first attempt on March 2, the daughter put bleach in a breakfast smoothie the mother had made. Upon an initial sip the mother detected the scent of bleach and assumed whoever had washed the glass had not rinsed it properly.
The second incident on March 6 proved a bit more suspicious. The mother noticed the smell of bleach in a water carafe she kept on a nightstand in her bedroom, reported the sheriff's office in Boulder.
At that point, the mother apparently confronted her daughter about the incidents. She told the police that her daughter told her she was trying to kill her for taking her iPhone away.
The mother then called the police. Her daughter is now being held in the Boulder County Juvenile Center and is facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Conviction on both counts could bring a sentence ranging from eight years to 48 years per count.
Death by bleach ingestion is a slow and painful process and has been in the headlines in the past several years, with a UK mother convicted of killing her autistic son by making him drink bleach. A U.S. teenager's suicide was reportedly related to Internet cyberbullies' taunting and telling her to drink bleach and die.
Chlorine, which may be found typically in bleach products at home, can be fatal when ingested or inhaled. The substance reacts to the water in one's body to produce hydrochlorous acid and hydrochloric acid, which are said to be "extremely poisonous."
