GUATEMALA CITY – A 15-year-old girl poisoned her 4-month-old baby with an agricultural chemical and then killed herself by ingesting the same substance over the weekend in Guatemala, police said.

The murder-suicide occurred Saturday in Jutiapa, a city located 190 kilometers (118 miles) southeast of Guatemala City, a National Civilian Police, or PNC, spokesman told reporters.

Leydi Perez killed her baby and committed suicide because of “a romantic disappointment,” the PNC spokesman said.

Perez used an agricultural chemical designed to keep animals out of corn fields, dissolving the substance in water and giving it to the baby to drink.

The teenager then drank the chemical, the PNC spokesman said.

The baby died immediately and Perez died a few hours later, police said.

The teenager had been depressed for several months because the baby’s father did not want to marry her after learning she was pregnant, the PNC said.

Nearly 20 minors have committed suicide this year in Guatemala due to depression triggered by emotional problems, official figures show.

The youngest child to commit suicide was a 6-year-old boy, the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office said in a report released last month. EFE