"Vodka Mom" sets herself ablaze.

[boston bean]

A 29-year-old Cottage Grove woman set herself afire and died just weeks after being ridiculed as "vodka mom" on national television for drunkenly rolling onto and asphyxiating her three-week-old son in November.

Toni Medrano died at 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, said Don Gorrie, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office. The cause and manner of death are under investigation, Gorrie said.

Medrano doused herself in a flammable liquid on July 2 and lit her body on fire in her mother's backyard in St. Paul Park at 4:01 a.m., said Police Chief Michael Monahan. Medrano was "despondent and suicidal over personal issues," he said.

Medrano was charged last month in Washington County with two counts of manslaughter in the death of Adrian Alexander Medrano, who was born Nov. 1. The infant died of asphyxia Nov. 22.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/161793165.html

This story is sad all the way around...

[hlthe2b]

1. Oh, gawd....

What a horrific story. Tragedy compounded...

[boston bean]

2. Nancy Grace is probably going to be sued over this.

And I'm not sad about that.

I like her sometimes, but she has got to show more compassion for people. Compounding to this tradegy can be linked directly to her.

[hlthe2b]

3. why am I not surprised that she is involved. (I wasn't aware, but not surprised)..

I hope she is sued and loses big time. For someone who supposedly "honors the legal process," she sure as hell moves to vigilantism before it can even be initiated.

[boston bean]

4. yeah, it's at the tail end of the article.

She deserves to be sued for this.

[Blue_Tires]

12. She keeps on pulling this shit...I'm surprised CNN hasn't been sued...

[DCKit]

5. Can't and won't disagree with what the previous posters said.

Nancy Grace may be directly responsible for this woman committing suicide in such a horrible way.

Yeah, the death of her child wasn't tragic enough.

[slackmaster]

6. Mental illness sucks. Nancy Grace swallows.

[boston bean]

11. swallows, what? nt

[backscatter712]

16. Let's reframe slightly... Nancy Grace is a prick!

[Capt. Obvious]

7. How dare she!

She deprived us of cable news coverage and many, many People/Us Weekly covers. She's a monster for this.

[warrprayer]

8. This is the second time for Nancy

You would think her producers would learn...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/nancy-grace-suicide-lawsu_n_780607.html


But it's only poor people she messes with, so she gets away with it.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. There was another mother who committed suicide after being interviewed by darling Nancy.

In that case a two year old boy had disappeared and the mother went on the show to be interviewed. There was a lawsuit over that death.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/nancy-grace-settles-lawsuit-melinda-ducketts-suicide/story?id=12096851

What a sad, sad story all the way around.

[TwilightGardener]

10. I don't think the publicity even mattered that much to this woman. She was probably messed up to

begin with, and the horror and guilt associated with what happened to her baby would be enough to push the sanest people over the edge.

[boston bean]

13. According to the article it didn't help. nt

[TwilightGardener]

14. No, I'm sure it didn't. But I can't imagine the shame and grief, whether or not

anyone knew about it.

[HopeHoops]

15. You can get 100 proof vodka and that's the definition of flamable alcohol.

It must be Hell to know you killed your child accidentally. Those that do it intentionally are another matter. It's a sad story any way you look at it.

[closeupready]

17. The Nancy Grace segment is embedded in the web link here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2171103/Vodka-mom-Toni-Medrano-burns-death-suffocating-newborn-son-slept.html

She is a four-letter word.

Tried to watch the whole thing, but it's just too enraging, had to stop. But if there is a civil suit, I'd imagine this segment is tantamount to a slam-dunk.

[WI_DEM]

18. This is very sad. The woman obviously had a serious alcohol issue

and tremendous guilt over what happened to her baby. She needed help not ridicule.

[Marrah_G]

19. This is really a sad story

As a mother I don't know if I could live with accidentally killing my child either.

I really feel badly for her mother, who lost a grandchild and then had to see her daughter burned to death in her yard.

[bluedigger]

20. Poor woman.

RIP.