Andrew Burd was 4 years old when he died of salt poisoning. Exactly what happened the day of his death and why he was overdosed on salt remain a question. In her trial, the prosecution argues that Andrew’s foster mother, Hannah Overton, forced him to drink a mixture of water and Cajun spices as a punishment and waited nearly 3 hours, while he vomited and drifted in and out of consciousness, before taking him to the hospital. The defense claimed that Andrew had a rare eating disorder called Pica where the sufferer compulsively eats non-nutritive substances, that Hannah gave him the spice mixture to treat this condition but that the level of sodium in this mixture was low, and that Andrew actually died from eating salt himself as a result of his condition. Hannah, who homeschooled her four older biological children and was pregnant at the time of Andrew’s death, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, Hannah and her church, Calvary Chapel of the Coastlands, have continued to appeal the decision, and a number of news outlets have picked up the story, running titles like “Murder or Medical Mystery?”
Date: October 2, 2006
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
