Mom charged in 2-year-old’s fentanyl overdose death at homeless shelter

By Riley Moser

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — A 37-year-old Bemidji woman is facing charges for her young daughter’s overdose death, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Hennepin County.

The woman was charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter for the May 28 death of her 2-year-old daughter at an emergency homeless shelter near downtown Minneapolis.

Officers were dispatched the the shelter on the 100 block of Glenwood Avenue North around 7:30 p.m. on a report of a baby not breathing.

Upon arrival, first responders administered Narcan for the child and attempted CPR. She was transported to Hennepin Healthcare, where she died a short time later.

An autopsy found the child had 9.7 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl in her system as well as norfentanyl, Narcan and caffeine. Her cause of death was determined to be acute fentanyl toxicity.

The child’s mother told investigators she had been sleeping on the ground after the child’s father left the apartment when she woke up hours later with her child on her chest unresponsive.

When asked if the girl could have consumed narcotics, the mother allegedly responded by handing police a “plate with white power on it” and said it could possibly be fentanyl, charges say. The substance field tested positive for fentanyl. She told officers she did not know when the fentanyl was placed on the plate and denied doing it herself.

Court documents say the woman told officers she had done fentanyl while at the apartment around 2 a.m. the same day her daughter died.

During a search of the apartment, officers reportedly found multiple pills and needles.

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