A grandmother rubbed her grandson's teeth with methadone to make him sleep...which resulted in his death.

The Baltimore-area grandma has now been charged with murder for rubbing her grandson's gum line and teeth with methadone, resulting in his death from an overdose. The 17-month-old was killed over the Fourth of July weekend, but his sister, who was also present and dosed with methadone, survived.

Methadone is a narcotic usually prescribed to addicts in order to aid in detoxing from drugs such as heroin and morphine. It is sometimes prescribed as a painkiller.

50-year-old Towanda Reaves, from Franklintown, Baltimore, has been charged with killing her grandson accidentally by rubbing methadone on his gums.

Reaves said she put her grandchildren to bed around 8 P.M., later returning around 2 A.M. to turn off the air conditioning in their room. When she realized her grandson wasn't breathing, she called paramedics.

They were unsuccessful; the toddler was pronounced dead at Sinai Hospital.

"She confirmed that she had given methadone to the children and put it on the gum lines of their mouths," said Baltimore Police spokesperson Det. Jeremy Silbert.

Reaves gave an empty bottle of methadone to officers and said she had rubbed it on her grandchildren's gums. A toxicology report performed on the granddaughter indicated that she also had methadone in her bloodstream.  She was later released from the hospital.

Reaves was arrested on August 1 and chared with second-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, assault, child abuse causing serious injury, and reckless endangerment.

Reaves was called a doting grandmother, and said the act was likely an accident.

 "She really took care of them," one neighbor said. "As far as I can see, she wasn't a bad person."