In the 1984 trial for the death of Chelsea McClellan, a toxicologist testified for the prosecution that residue of succinylcholine, a powerful muscle relaxant that is difficult to detect, had been found in tissue samples in the child’s body, The Times reported. During the trial, the child’s mother, Petti, then 28, testified that her daughter “went limp, like a rag doll, just like a rag doll — she looked like Raggedy Ann” after the intravenous injection.
“She wasn’t breathing right,” Mrs. McClellan said. “Her eyes —she was looking at me, whimpering and trying to say ‘Mama,’ but she couldn’t get it out.”