By Staff Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A Gainesville mother, Rebecca Lynne Morris, age 36, has been taken into custody following the tragic death of her infant child from a methamphetamine overdose.
On May 18, authorities, including deputies from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and emergency medical technicians, were called to Morris’s residence. They transported her 38-day-old baby to UF Health Shands Hospital, where the child was officially pronounced dead.
Morris allegedly recounted to the deputies that she had fallen asleep around midnight with her newborn and her one-year-old son. Her next memory was waking up shortly before placing a 911 call at 8:19 a.m. Upon discovering her baby not breathing, she reportedly ran to a neighbor for help. Morris claimed she hadn’t smoked marijuana for approximately four months and denied using any other drugs for two years. Hospital drug tests indicated no substances in her system.
During a search of her home, deputies reportedly discovered two partially smoked marijuana blunts on the kitchen island. Further inspection revealed a glass pipe with burnt residue in a silverware drawer. This prompted another search warrant, focusing on illegal narcotics and paraphernalia, with the residue on the pipe testing positive for methamphetamine.
On June 5, the Medical Examiner’s Office provided a toxicology report revealing the baby had 47.6 ng/mL of methamphetamine and 23.5 ng/mL of amphetamine, which is believed to be the metabolized form of methamphetamine, in his system.
The second search warrant reportedly produced bottles, syringes, and anything that could have been used to deliver food or narcotics to a child; the detective reported that the residence had not been disturbed since the baby died because Morris had been staying with a family member.
In subsequent interviews, Morris reportedly said she fed the baby a bottle before they all went to sleep, and when she woke up, she remembered that she had not plugged her phone in, so when she noticed that the baby was not breathing, she ran to her neighbor’s house to call 911.
Post Miranda, Morris reportedly said the marijuana blunts belonged to a friend; the friend had reportedly told the detective that he’d taken a few “hits” from a blunt, but that happened outside the house. Morris reportedly told the detective that she had never seen her friend using cocaine, meth, or heroin. She said again that she had not smoked marijuana in about four months.
Morris reportedly said she does not have hard drugs in her house or around her kids; she said she is the only one who takes care of her children and had lived alone with her kids since August 2025.
When the detective showed Morris a picture of the pipe from the silverware drawer, she reportedly said she had never seen the pipe and never opens that drawer. She said she had not seen meth in a long time.
When the detective informed Morris about the toxicology report, she said she had not given the baby meth and repeated that several times. She said, however, that the night before the baby died, she had given him medicine with a syringe that came from the drawer where the glass pipe was found. The detective told her that the amount of methamphetamine in the baby’s system was not consistent with trace amounts from a syringe touching a pipe, for example.
When the detective said he knew she had lied about smoking marijuana because a witness had come forward with text messages showing that they smoked marijuana together on May 15, Morris reportedly became argumentative and said she might have smoked marijuana a few days before the baby died. When the detective asked how she tested negative for drugs if she had smoked marijuana recently, she reportedly requested an attorney.
Morris has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Her full criminal history will be available tomorrow, but she has previous Alachua County arrests for child abuse (later dropped), drug possession, burglary, and shoplifting. Bail will be set on Thursday.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
