Authorities said China Record’s blood alcohol level reached 0.680 after a punishment inside her Baton Rouge home.
BATON ROUGE, La. — A toxicology finding became the central proof in a Baton Rouge child death case that ended with Roxanne Record convicted of manslaughter in the fatal alcohol poisoning of 4-year-old China Record.
Authorities said China’s blood alcohol level was 0.680 after she was forced to drink whiskey as punishment in April 2022. That number, more than eight times the legal limit for adult drivers in Louisiana, gave prosecutors a stark measure of what happened inside the home. The trial then turned on how the alcohol got into the child’s body, what Record intended and whether other adults failed to intervene.
The whiskey bottle became a key object in the case from the beginning. Police said the child was accused of taking a sip from a bottle in the home. Prosecutors said Roxanne Record responded by making her granddaughter kneel in a hallway and drink more of it. Accounts presented in court identified the alcohol as Canadian Mist whiskey and described the amount as more than half a pint or about half a bottle. The public record does not include a full forensic reconstruction of each swallow or the exact amount in the bottle before the punishment began. But the state argued that the toxicology result ruled out the idea that China had taken only a small sip.
Emergency crews were called to the Wallis Street home on April 21, 2022, for an unresponsive child. Police said firefighters and medical workers were trying to revive China when officers arrived. She was later pronounced dead. The East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office determined that the cause was acute alcohol poisoning. In court, prosecutors used that finding to connect the punishment to the death. Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings argued that the girl’s grandmother forced the alcohol on her and then went on with ordinary life as the child died. Defense attorney Caitlin Fowlkes did not frame the death as harmless or minor. She argued instead that the state had not proved the mental state required for murder.
The jury’s verdict reflected that distinction. Record had been charged with first-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile, allegations that exposed her to a mandatory life sentence if convicted of murder. After a three-day trial, jurors found her guilty of manslaughter. That result held her responsible for China’s death while rejecting the state’s highest charge. Fowlkes told jurors that Record tried to perform CPR while calling 911 and that witness accounts did not line up. Cummings told jurors the death followed a pattern in which China was treated as a problem child in the home. The verdict showed that the toxicology evidence proved the fatal result, but intent remained the battleground.
Prosecutors also used statements about the household to explain why the punishment occurred. Cummings said China was accused of “stealing” food and water, language she said had spread among adults and children in the house. The state argued that those claims showed the child was singled out before the whiskey incident. That context mattered because the prosecution wanted jurors to see the death as the end of ongoing mistreatment, not an isolated bad decision. The defense sought to limit that framing, arguing that the evidence of the final moments was inconsistent and that the jurors could not infer murder from a chaotic family tragedy. Both sides used the same house and the same timeline to tell very different stories.
Kadjah Record, China’s mother, is the other adult charged in the case. Police said she watched the punishment and did not stop it. Investigators also said she gave conflicting statements. Her case remains pending, and she was scheduled to return to court June 29. The mother’s prosecution could bring renewed attention to the evidence from the home, including who handled the bottle, when China appeared unresponsive and who called 911. It could also test how prosecutors apply criminal responsibility to an adult accused of inaction rather than direct force. For now, the allegations against Kadjah Record remain unresolved in court.
The case has also raised questions that the public record cannot fully answer. The Department of Children and Family Services said after the death that it could not comment on or confirm any possible abuse or neglect investigation because state law makes those records confidential. That leaves unknown whether any prior reports existed, what they might have said or whether any agency had contact with the family before China died. Relatives have spoken publicly about fear and regret. Ebony Record, the child’s aunt, said family members failed China and that problems in the home were known. “We all failed,” she said. Those remarks added family context but did not change the legal burden prosecutors faced in court.
Sentencing is the next step for Roxanne Record. The manslaughter conviction gives the judge a different task than a murder verdict would have. Instead of imposing mandatory life for first-degree murder, the court must decide a sentence under the manslaughter conviction. Prosecutors can point to China’s age, the fatal alcohol level and the alleged treatment of the child before her death. The defense can argue that jurors rejected murder, that Record tried to provide aid and that the punishment should reflect the conviction actually returned. The sentencing hearing will not retry the case, but it will decide how the law translates the verdict into prison time.
As of May 22, 2026, the toxicology result remained the clearest public measure of China Record’s final hours. Roxanne Record awaited sentencing, and Kadjah Record’s pending case was set to continue June 29.
Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.