BANGOR — An Auburn mother charged with murdering her toddler was apparently suicidal when she drugged her 2½-year-old daughter, duct taped her face and then suffocated her last month, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in the case.

Superior Court Justice Ann Murray ruled Friday morning to unseal two search warrant affidavits in the case against Leanna Norris, 24, of Auburn and formerly of Stetson, who was charged July 3 with murder in the death of her daughter, Loh Melody Grenda.

Investigators have released few details about the toddler’s death except to say she died in Newport on June 23 and was found early the next morning in a car in Stetson.

“Leanna Norris drove Loh Grenda to Durham Bridge Road in Newport around 8:45 p.m.; that Leanna stated it was [an] area near the water; that Leanna Norris gave Loh Grenda two or three syringes of Benadryl to make her go to sleep; that Leanna Norris put black Gorilla [duct] tape on Loh Grenda’s mouth and nose; that Leanne Norris put a blanket over Loh Grenda’s face so she would not have to look at Loh’s eyes; that Leanna Norris said that she killed Loh Grenda,” the affidavit states.

Murray held a hearing at the Penobscot Judicial Center on the motion brought forth by Martha J. Harris of Bangor, Norris’ court-appointed attorney, to seal the warrants until her trial.

After the body was discovered, Norris was taken to a medical facility in Rockport where she received treatment until her arrest, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Norris, who went to Central High School in Corinth and graduated in 2007, according to her Facebook page, was secretly indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury in June, so no probable cause affidavit has been filed stating why she was arrested.

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