Mom reveals her tragic mistake that led to her baby overdosing on heroin in chilling new audio

Detectives have released a new, chilling audio recording of a Kentucky mother admitting to exposing her eight-month-old daughter to heroin after finding traces of the drug on her hands.

Brianne Ehlinger, 33, and Shawn Gardner, 35, were both arrested in November 2023 after their eight-month-old daughter went into respiratory arrest.

Now, Boone County investigators have created public audio in which Ehlinger can be heard confessing that her child overdosed.

“It’s a lot,” you hear the detective say. It should never have happened,” Ehlinger said through tears.

The detective is then heard in an audio broadcast from the radio telling her: Fox 19: ‘Yes, yes, yes. It absolutely should never have happened. But from here we continued this way and things got better.”

Ehlinger is pictured with her partner Shawn Gardner, 35. Both were arrested in November 2023 after their baby overdosed

The overdose occurred at the family home in Burlington, Kentucky, in Boone County

Ehlinger, who has given birth to at least three children, explained that she has been addicted to drugs since she was 18, but has been clean for two years after completing a treatment program.

However, she told the detective that she had recently relapsed and made a tragic mistake after using the drug.

“Later, I was playing with my kids and I thought she had something in her mouth,” the mother explained.

“So I put my finger in her mouth to check her mouth, and then she stopped breathing, like something was wrong. So we called 911 and I didn’t even think I had anything in my hands.”

Ehlinger accidentally caused her baby to swallow the medicine after she forgot to wash her hands.

Brianne Ehlinger, 33, and Shawn Gardner, 35, were arrested in November 2023

Brianne Ehlinger is seen with Boone County deputies during her first arrest in November 2023

The couple has had at least three children together over the years

After realizing something was wrong with her baby, it was her partner Gardner who called 911.

“My sister and I did CPR on her because she was still breathing, but she got knocked out,” Ehlinger explained to the detective.

Paramedics arrived at the home and were able to administer Narcan to reverse the opioid overdose.

Incredibly, the baby survived and after being cared for for a few days at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, she was later released.

Ehlinger stands next to another of her daughters in a photo on her Facebook page

Gardner can be seen playing with one of his daughters in photos posted to social media

When she realised something was wrong with her baby, it was her partner Gardner who called 911 and emergency services arrived at the house

In addition to the confession, Ehlinger told officers that her partner, Gardner, who had also undergone a treatment program in the past, had given her the drugs.

Ehlinger completed a treatment program in 2019, while Gardner also underwent drug treatment, from which he “graduated” in 2016. But both appear to have relapsed in recent years.

The duo was arrested in May. Ehlinger pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a minor.

She will be sentenced later this month and faces a prison sentence of one to five years.

Gardner is also scheduled to appear in court later in July to answer to similar charges.

The child has now been placed with the Cabinet for Public Health and Family Care.