Florida Group Home Residents Try to Use Bleach to Poison Other Residents

Jessica Gray and Melinda Lockhart, both 15, were charged with poisoning water with intent to kill or injure and taken to the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach, investigators said.

The girls, residents of Unity House…., told deputies they knew the bleach could kill or get the other residents ill but that they didn’t care, investigators said.

House parent Tasha Graham, 34, reported the incident at 3:47 p.m. Saturday after a 14-year-old girl drank the water, tasted the bleach and then spit it out, reports show.

Graham said Gray of West Palm Beach and Lockhart of Connecticut poisoned the water after an altercation they had with other residents of the home, reports state.

The 14-year-old girl told deputies several others were talking about the bleach being in the gallon jug of water and other drink containers in the refrigerator, according to reports.

Gray said, “She hoped to make the other clients ill,” because of “drama in the house,” deputies wrote in their report.

Lockhart admitted helping Gray pour the bleach in the water and other liquid containers in the refrigerator and that she knew “it would cause harm to anyone who drank it,” but said “she did not care,” deputies said.”