Jealous stepmother tries to poison the child her husband had with another woman, police say

Reputed evidence of bad blood between a woman accused of trying to poison a toddler and the child's mother can be admitted at the woman's trial later this month, according to a judge.

Prosecutors say the evidence will demonstrate the state of mind of Andrea Vazquez-Hernandez, a 37-year-old Carol Stream woman who will stand trial starting May 17 for aggravated battery.

Authorities say that Vazquez-Hernandez put nail polish remover mixed with milk in the drinking cup of a toddler whom her husband had fathered with another woman. The 17-month-old child, though, refused to drink the mixture and the father discovered the spiked drink, according to authorities.

The incident is alleged to have happened on May 29, 2016, at the Carol Stream residence Vazquez-Hernandez shared with her husband and their 6-year-old child.

In their court filing, prosecutors said that Vazquez-Hernandez and her husband had been in a relationship that produced a child born in 2010, but the couple had separated for a two-year period. During that separation, the husband fathered a child born in December 2014 with another woman.

At trial, prosecutors said they want to introduce evidence of the strain in the marital relationship caused by the birth of that child. That includes an alleged physical altercation between Vazquez-Hernandez and her husband a month prior to the alleged battery of the child, a fight prosecutors say was sparked by the husband's relationship with the child's mother.

Vazquez-Hernandez sent messages to the mother around May 19, 2016, reportedly telling her to stop texting or calling the husband unless there was an emergency regarding their child. The incidents demonstrate Vazquez-Hernandez's motive, prosecutors alleged, and show how the baby was "a constant reminder of a forbidden relationship."

They would also buttress statements Vazquez-Hernandez is alleged to have made to police, saying that she wanted to "punish" her husband and the mother.

Vazquez-Hernandez has been in custody since her arrest. Her bench trial before Judge Brian Telander is expected to last about two days.

This story was originally published May 7, 2017 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Jealous stepmother tries to poison the child her husband had with another woman, police say."