A Halfmoon mother has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of her 10-year-old son, who died in January after an overdose at a Halfmoon mobile home park. Rebecca Jordan entered her plea Monday in Saratoga County Court, and she is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2027, when she will likely face four to 12 years in state prison.
According to WNYT, Jordan's son, identified as Edward Jordan, died on January 19 at the D and R Village Community Mobile Home Park in Halfmoon. The station reports he was 10 years old at the time of his death, a detail also noted in a prior report from NEWS10, which described him as a 10-year-old boy.
Jordan was arrested on April 15 and charged with manslaughter, tampering, and child endangerment, the station's report notes. Saratoga County District Attorney Brett Eby said at the time of the arrest that the toxicology reports and investigation had yielded something uncommon in his line of work, calling it unseen to most prosecutors and law enforcement personnel.
A Mother's Alleged Motive, According to Investigators
The Daily Gazette reported that investigators believed Jordan's motivation was not to harm her son but to get him to sleep. “At this point, the investigation is showing that the motivation was to get the child to go to sleep,” an investigator identified as Brown told The Daily Gazette. That same outlet had earlier reported that a manslaughter conviction could carry a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, a range that differs from the four-to-12-year estimate reported by WNYT.
Reports on Jordan's age have varied. NEWS10 described her as 43 years old, while Dakota News Now reported that Rebecca A. Jordan was 41 at the time of her arrest, citing a month-long investigation that preceded the April arrest, according to Dakota News Now.
A Broader Pattern of Antihistamine Overdoses in Children
Jordan's case arrives amid wider concern about diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, and its risks for children. In Connecticut, the state's Office of the Child Advocate reported that three children died within a two-month span from diphenhydramine overdoses, according to ABC7 New York. Those deaths remained under investigation, and officials had not linked them to the so-called Benadryl Challenge, the outlet reported. A Stamford physician cited in that report said the drug can cause significant side effects, including heavy sedation.
Separate research offers mixed signals on the scale of the problem nationally. A study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics pointed to toxicosurveillance trends suggesting an increase in intentional pediatric diphenhydramine ingestions, raising concerns about accessibility, toxicity, and social media influence. A PubMed record, however, found that massive diphenhydramine ingestions made up 2.7 to 6.7 percent of reported ingestions between 2016 and 2023, and that the trend since 2020 had not significantly increased.
Jordan's sentencing is set for January 4, 2027, when a judge will determine how much time she will serve for the death of her son. Until then, the exact toxicology findings and the full circumstances of the overdose remain limited to what has been disclosed in court filings and statements from investigators.
