Mother is charged with murder after ‘giving her two-year-old daughter a fatal dose of Benadryl’ while on the run from the child’s father after he was awarded full custody

• Leandra Andrade, 38, is currently being held without bail on second-degree murder charges in Virginia Beach after her daughter was found dead
• Lanoix Andrade, two, was pronounced dead inside the Cutty Sark motel on August 1 next to her unconscious mother, who was given Narcan 
• The medical examiner’s office has ruled the toddler’s died from an ‘acute diphenhydramine toxicity,’ with is commonly known as Benadryl
• The two were found at the hotel after Andrade texted a friend to say she would ‘look down on them from heaven’ and spoke about her daughter in past tense 
• Andrade had fled Washington DC after losing a custody battle with the child’s father Fabio E. Andrade, Jr., who was given full legal custody 
• The pair still shared physical custody when Andrade took off with Lanoix  

A Washington DC mother, who fled to Virginia with her two-year-old daughter after losing a custody battle, has been charged with murder. 

Leandra Andrade, 38, is currently being held without bail in Virginia Beach after her daughter Lanoix Andrade, two, was found dead inside Cutty Sark motel on August 1. 

The medical examiner’s office declared the little girl died from an ‘acute diphenhydramine toxicity,’ with is commonly known as Benadryl. 

Her mother was also found unconscious in the same room and was given Narcan and taken to the hospital, according to investigators. 

Andrade fled DC after she lost custody of Lanoix to the child’s father Fabio E. Andrade, Jr., who told WTVR that his daughter will ‘always be the love of my life.’ 

‘I look forward to seeing justice served for Lanoix and continue to ask for privacy so that I may mourn my beloved angel,’ he said. 

Fabio had been granted full custody of their daughter, but they shared joint physical custody, according to People. 

He had been fighting since March to get custody of his daughter, but the August ruling did not effect the court-order temporary shared physical custody. 

Leandra Andrade, 38, (pictured) is currently being held without bail on a murder charge in Virginia Beach after her daughter Lanoix Andrade, two, was found dead inside Cutty Sark motel on August 1

The medical examiner’s office declared the little girl (right) died from an ‘acute diphenhydramine toxicity,’ with is commonly known as Benadryl. Andrade took off with Lanoix after losing legal custody to the child’s father Fabio E. Andrade, Jr. (left) in late-July

Andrade was found unconscious in Cutty Sark motel (pictured) and was given Narcan before being taken to the hospital. Her daughter was pronounced dead at the scene

Virginia doctor Dr. Ryan Light told WTVR that overdoses from Benadryl are rare, but could lead to seizures and death. 

‘It can make you very irritable,’ he told the outlet. ‘It can cause headaches; it can cause visual disturbances; it can cause hallucinations.

‘When you get to the point of toxicity, it’s not as just putting you to sleep. Some people do go to sleep, and that’s where it leads into a coma and then either a cardiac arrest or arrest of the heart because of the arrhythmia that it can cause because of the toxicity.’ 

The little girl was found dead around 3.30am and investigators ruled Lanoix’s death suspicious. 

The pair were found after Virginia Beach executed a search warrant after a family friend called to report they had received a text message from the mother, reading: ‘they would look down on [the friend] from heaven,’ according to WTKR. 

Andrade also reportedly posted about her daughter on social media, referring to her in the past tense. 

Her Instagram posts, viewed DC News Now, show the mother apologizing to her daughter, saying she ‘deserved the world’ and she was ‘ so sorry, baby.’ 

‘You are stunning, conversational and beautiful,’ she wrote. 

In a second post, she reportedly referred to Fabio as an abuser, who was ‘fabricating evidence’ against her. 

I wish I left when I saw him for who he was by Feb 2019, but I got pregnant. I wish I left when it felt uncomfortable staying. I wish I left when I knew things in our home were escalating in 2021,’ she reportedly wrote. 

‘I wish Ieft when he tried to get aggressive with me and necessitating the police to be called to our house in Jan 2022. I wish I never told him I was leaving the morning of March 16, 2022 or I would have finally successfully escaped his physical and emotional abuse. 

They were supposed to check out of the motel on August 2, but a friend called police saying Andrade told them she’d ‘look down on them in heaven’ 

‘Most importantly, I wish I left for my daughter, because she deserved the world. I am disappointed in myself that this was the only way I could finally get out of his reigns and be free from my abuser and manipulator.’ 

After the friend provided police with the motel’s address, police found them unconscious. 

Police reportedly seized an empty pill container, a glass powder with powder, a latop, two cell phones, and several flash drives from the room, which the mother and daughter were due to check out of on August 2. 

Andrade’s lawyer James Broccoletti admitted the circumstances were ‘very upsetting’ and that the mother is ‘looking forward to their day in court.’ 

‘It’s very distressing, all the circumstances. We’re looking forward to the preliminary hearing to test all the evidence,’ he told WTVR. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Broccoletti for comment. 

She is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on December 14. 

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