A 23-year-old Wyoming mother-of-two, Kailey Kline, was welcoming 2025 alongside her friends at a local bar. She was handed a drink by a stranger that tasted sweet. Her fiance, Shawn, picked her up and, soon, she started to foam from her mouth and had seizures. She was hospitalized and, while she has recovered since, doctors believe the drink that she drank was filled with antifreeze.
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According to Cowboy State Daily, Kline and her friends celebrated New Year's Eve at the Silver Dollar in Cody, Wyoming. It was around 1:30 a.m., according to KTVQ, that a stranger offered her a drink, which she accepted. She drank it and didn't notice any strange flavor whatsoever.
"She was probably too trusting," her mother, Ambers Espinoza, told Cowboy State Daily. "If she was already drinking sweet drinks or fruity drinks she wouldn't have tasted it." Antifreeze, while not confirmed to be the substance she ingested, is sweet, given its ethylene glycol content. "And then she started foaming at the mouth and then she started seizing," Espinoza continued.
Shawn, who was with Kline at the time, called an ambulance. They attempted to give her valium, but her seizures continued. She was then intubated and then airlifted to St. Vincent Regional Hospital. There, she didn't make any improvements. However, it was only until doctors gave her an antifreeze antidote that she quickly recovered.
"Her sugar started coming up, her potassium started coming up, then her lactic acids started decreasing," Espinoza said. Given her recovery, it is believed that she suffered from ethylene glycol intoxication. However, doctors will never know for sure what Kailey Kline ingested due to her blood being drawn too late.
Recovery And Lessons Learned
Kailey Kline recovered and received her discharge orders on January 6, according to a GoFundme campaign set up by Espinoza. While she can walk, she is still very weak but is expected to fully recover as she is "making positive strides."
Espinoza does not blame Silver Dollar for the incident. "Without knowing who actually did it, it's hard to place blame on a business," she said. "They can't be 100% responsible for their patrons all the time." However, she does offer a piece of advice for any who are thinking about accepting drinks from strangers.
"It's important to make sure you are aware of your drink because those types of things can happen," Espinoza continued. "Don't accept drinks from people you don't know, don't leave your drink unattended."
The Cody Police Department is currently investigating the incident and is moving "fairly rapidly."
