A Florida mom is being accused of murder after the death of her infant son. Natalia Munoz‑Paulino looked teary-eyed in her mug shot, no doubt because she knows that she was solely responsible for her son’s death last year. The mom was allegedly neglectful of the child, which is ultimately what led to his death. She couldn’t even keep her story straight when telling investigators how the boy died. It may take time before she is sentenced, but she knows she will definitely spend time in jail.
Munoz-Paulino was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse on November 10, 2025, CBS News reported. The 26-year-old cried during a court hearing the following day as prosecutors argued she should stay jailed before her trial.
On July 2, 2024, authorities responded to her home after she called saying her 9-month-old son was unresponsive. The child was taken to the hospital by Miami‑Dade Fire Rescue, and despite their best efforts, was declared dead at 10:39 p.m. Not even an hour later, officers from the Hammocks District were reaching out to the homicide bureau to report the case.
In the arrest affidavit, police wrote that Munoz-Paulino’s home was “disheveled, unkept, and dirty with several items of clothing, old food, trash, and used hygienic products scattered on the floor,” per CBS News. They added that the home was “unconducive for children to live in” after another child began drinking baby oil and they had to intervene.
According to authorities, the mother gave conflicting accounts of what happened to the baby, NBC 6 reported. She told detectives that she had fallen asleep holding the baby and when she woke he was “purple, unresponsive, and stiff.” However, she told investigators the baby was playing with an older sibling when he fell and hit his head.
She later told the Department of Children and Families that the baby drowned in the bathtub, and she told the baby’s father that he had choked. The mom said her baby wasn’t breastfed, but he was “known for placing foreign objects in his mouth.”
The baby’s father, who was working out of state to provide for the family, shared with police that Munoz-Paulino told him she used methamphetamine and cocaine.
An autopsy performed two days after the boy’s death revealed that he had eggshells and feathers in his stomach. There were lethal amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine in his system, a toxicology report showed, according to NBC 6. The medical examiner ruled out suffocation but said the baby ingested the drugs. His cause of death was determined to be neglect, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Munoz‑Paulino admitted to police that she had used drugs while hosting a party the weekend prior to her son’s death, but she couldn’t recall any details leading up to the incident, NBC 6 reported.
She is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
