Woman dubbed 'vodka mom' kills herself

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 10 (UPI) -- A Minnesota woman killed herself following criticism on national TV for accidentally killing her infant son by smothering him while sleeping with him drunk.

Toni Medrano, 29, of Cottage Grove, south of St. Paul, died Saturday at Regions Hospital in St. Paul after setting herself on fire in her mother's backyard, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Medrano was dubbed the "vodka mom" on a June 11 segment of the "Nancy Grace" show on the HLN cable news channel, and other national news outlets picked up the story and the "vodka mom" label.

She was charged June 8 with second-degree manslaughter in the November suffocation death of her 3-week-old son, Adrian.

Medrano allegedly drank a fifth of vodka, then fell asleep next to her son on a couch in her home, smothering him.

Medrano doused herself with a flammable liquid in her mother's backyard in St. Paul Park July 2, the St. Paul Park Police Department said.

Her husband, Jason Medrano, described the HLN show and some online comments that followed as cruel.

"The things people said were horrible," he said. "It shows that cyberbullying happens to adults too."

The Pioneer Press said attempts to contact representatives of the "Nancy Grace" show and CNN -- HLN is a CNN network -- were unsuccessful.