Suburban Woman Accused Of Poisoning Her Children's Apple Juice

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 16, 2015 4:35PM

Krystle El Khatib

Cook County Sheriff's authorities contend a suburban woman attempted to kill her two children with apple juice laced with anti-anxiety medication.

Krystle El Khatib, 29, of Schiller Park faces attempted murder charges after she allegedly crushed up benzodiazepine, put it into apple juice, and forced her 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter to drink two cups last Sunday. (El Khatib also threatened to hit her son if he didn't drink the juice.) Then El Khatib attempted suicide by taking a combination of benzodiazepine and the painkiller Norco.

Authorities believe El Khatib may have succeeded if her son didn't wake up the next morning, vomited several times, tried to awaken his mother, then texted his father when El Khatib was unresponsive. The father took the children to a hospital and law enforcement, at the request of hospital officials, performed a wellness check on El Khatib.

El Khatib was apparently angry with her children's father, whom she believed wasn't home enough with the children and didn't want to spend time with her. According to authorities, El Khatib texted the following to the father the day before the incident.

"At least if I go to hell, I've already been there. The kids go to heaven. Peace from all."

Bail for El Khatib has been set at $1.5 million.