The Washington state mom who was allegedly drugged by a woman posing as a photographer in a scheme to kidnap her baby daughter said Tuesday that she’s been sleeping with a knife under her pillow since the ordeal.
The mother, Elysia Miller, said at a press conference Tuesday that she’s terrified to let her children out of her sight and she keeps weapons by her side since suspect Juliette Parker allegedly drugged her with a cupcake at her home on Feb. 5.
“I carry a machete, a knife and pepper spray in the house and in my car,” Miller said, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.
Parker was arrested by police after her attempted kidnapping and held on $150,000 bail, according to the report.
But Miller still fears for her safety.
“Just because she is behind bars doesn’t mean that I have peace of mind,” she said at the news conference.
Miller, of the town of Spanaway, outside Tacoma, hired Parker, 38, from a Facebook ad that said she offered free newborn photography in order to build her portfolio, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Parker went to her house for three photo sessions with the mother and newborn, authorities said.
During her last visit, on Feb. 5, Parker brought her 16-year-old daughter, and offered the mom a cupcake, police said.
Miller ate it and grew drowsy and numb, then began to vomit, police said.
“The victim told firefighters that she believed that she had been drugged,” authorities said.
The mom managed to kick Parker and her daughter out — but noticed her keys were missing and called 911.
Pierce County deputies arrested Parker and her daughter days later.
Parker, who also goes by “Juliette Noel” and “Juliette Gains,” targeted other women with girls younger than 5 weeks old in what authorities believe was an effort to steal a tot and raise the child as her own.