Brooklyn Marris developed a severe E. coli infection and kidney complications after months of consuming unpasteurized milk from an unlicensed farm.
WINCHESTER, Calif. — A 17-month-old California girl required intensive care, dialysis and a ventilator after developing a dangerous E. coli infection that doctors suspected was linked to raw goat milk her family had been giving her for months, according to medical accounts and an investigation by ProPublica.
Brooklyn Marris became seriously ill in June 2025 after initially vomiting on the way home from swim lessons. Her condition worsened over the next two days, and emergency bloodwork prompted doctors to transfer her to Rady Children’s Hospital. Doctors diagnosed Brooklyn with E. coli O157:H7 and hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a serious complication that can damage the kidneys and other organs. She needed dialysis after her kidneys began failing and was placed on a ventilator. Her family said she suffered cardiac arrest three times before eventually improving.
Brooklyn’s mother, Emily Marris, told ProPublica that she had begun giving her daughter raw goat milk about six months earlier while looking for an alternative to other milk products. She bought the milk from Moonlight Ridge, an unlicensed farm operated at the time by Courtney Baker in Riverside County. Marris said she had found the farm after seeing a recommendation in a Facebook group and believed the milk was safe after the family visited the operation and discussed its practices with Baker. The Marris family said Baker had described the herd and milk as clean and tested.
When Brooklyn became ill, infectious disease doctors asked about her recent diet, and Marris told them about the unpasteurized goat milk. According to ProPublica, doctors identified the milk as the likely source of her infection. A stool sample confirmed that Brooklyn had E. coli O157:H7, a strain capable of producing Shiga toxin. The California Department of Public Health says raw milk can carry Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and other pathogens even when it comes from healthy animals or apparently clean farms. Young children are among those at greater risk of severe illness.
The investigation widened after another child became seriously ill. Iris and David Galindo told ProPublica that their 6-year-old daughter, Victoria, drank raw goat milk obtained from the same farm on June 2, 2025. She later developed HUS associated with the same E. coli strain and was admitted to the same hospital, where she required intensive treatment and blood transfusions. The two families later connected and provided information to government investigators examining Moonlight Ridge’s milk sales.
State regulators visited Moonlight Ridge on June 20, 2025, and issued Baker a cease-and-desist order and a violation notice for operating a food facility without a valid permit, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. Investigators collected a milk sample supplied by Baker during a follow-up visit. Testing conducted more than two weeks after Brooklyn first became ill did not detect E. coli or several other pathogens in that later sample. Because contamination can vary between batches, those results did not establish what was present in the milk the children had consumed earlier.
California allows raw milk to be sold for people to drink when dairies meet state licensing and sanitation requirements. State health officials warn, however, that those safeguards cannot guarantee raw milk is free of harmful organisms. The California Department of Public Health says pasteurization, which heats milk to destroy dangerous germs, significantly reduces the risk of foodborne illness. Raw milk can legally come from cows, goats and sheep in California when producers meet applicable requirements, while products sold as pet food operate under different rules.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture closed its Moonlight Ridge investigation in August 2025 after finding that Baker had promoted and sold unapproved milk products without a department license, ProPublica reported. The agency imposed no financial penalty. A special investigator wrote that officials had been unable to prove the milk was sold for human consumption. The department told ProPublica that its priority had been removing the product from the human food market quickly and that a criminal referral could have taken longer. Baker maintained that later testing found no pathogens and disputed claims that her milk caused the illnesses.
Brooklyn survived her hospitalization but required continued medical monitoring after discharge because of the damage caused by HUS, according to her family. Her parents said the episode left them concerned about possible long-term kidney and cardiovascular complications. HUS can develop after some Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections and may cause anemia and acute kidney failure, particularly in children.
The Marris and Galindo families have filed a lawsuit in Riverside County Superior Court against Baker and Moonlight Ridge, alleging that contaminated raw milk was negligently sold to them as suitable for human consumption. The allegations have not been decided by a court. Baker told ProPublica that the farm intends to defend itself against the claims. ProPublica reported that Baker later left California and reopened her farm in Arizona. The civil case remained ongoing as of the latest reporting.
Author note: Last updated October 4, 2026.