An Indiana couple is facing felony neglect charges after their six-month-old baby died from fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity, officials say.
Nichole Neely, 42, and Owen Miller, 43, are each facing one count of neglect resulting in the death of a dependent and two counts of neglect where they placed the dependent in a dangerous situation, reports WNDU.
According to the Elkhart County Prosecutor’s Office, a neighbor called the police after discovering the infant unresponsive in the parents’ home on January 18.
“In an interview with authorities, Neely told investigators that the child had been lying down in her bedroom with Miller when she went to the kitchen for 10 minutes,” the local outlet reported. “When she returned, she claimed the child was limp and not breathing and that they tried to take the child to a neighbor who happened to work in the medical field.”
A different neighbor “later visited the child’s home,” where they unsuccessfully performed CPR.
When law enforcement arrived at the residence, they reportedly found trash and rotting food littering the entire home. According to court documents viewed by WNDU, the house was so crowded with garbage that police were unable to fully open the door to the bedroom where the baby was found.
Police also said they found a baby’s bottle containing brown liquid with a fly floating in it.
The child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
An autopsy revealed that the baby suffered from “acute fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity, as well as diaper rash and pulmonary edema; and the child’s blood culture was positive for a Staph infection,” according to the station.
A six-year-old and an eight-year-old in the home were also taken to the hospital and treated for fentanyl poisoning, but they survived.
The baby’s father, Miller, had to be given Narcan at the scene for a drug overdose before being taken to the hospital.
When speaking with officers after receiving treatment, Miller reportedly had “difficulty spelling the names of his other children.”
The fentanyl crisis sweeping across the country has sadly not spared the children of drug abusers. In recent weeks, a California man is mourning the loss of his 17-month old son who died in his mother’s care, a Florida woman was arrested after her baby survived an overdose, and a North Carolina father turned himself in after his one-year-old was also treated for fentanyl poisoning.
