Six people are facing charges of murder and endangering the welfare of a child after an infant died from exposure to meth and fentanyl in Lincoln County, Missouri, according to law enforcement.
A grand jury returned an indictment last week for Dillon Clark, Gabriel Clark, Adam Hausermann, Evan Hausermann, Selena Rodriguez, and Shawna Walton, Fox2Now reported.
Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said in a Facebook post that the U.S. Marshal’s Service executed early morning raids on Dec. 18 to arrest five of the six individuals. Adam Hausermann remains at large, while the others are currently in custody in Lincoln County on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
“The investigation continues, so it’s strategic in the sense that we wanted to get all of them in hand at one time so they aren’t able to collaborate,” Lincoln County Sheriff Richard Harrell said.
Prosecutors are alleging the 49-day-old baby girl may have been dead for hours before the individuals called first responders to the trailer park they were at in August.
“Once law enforcement responded to that scene, there was fentanyl all throughout the house,” Wood said.
An autopsy revealed the baby died of exposure to fentanyl and meth. She additionally had signs of previous abuse, including a brain bleed and broken ribs at different stages of healing, Wood added.
The child’s parents, Gabe Clark and Selena Rodriguez, are among those arrested, according to the report. Rodriguez is facing murder charges even though she was allegedly not home at the time of the infant’s death. Wood said investigators believe she was aware of drugs in the home and still allowed the infant to be there, the report continues.
“We will pursue criminal charges as aggressively and as harshly as we possibly can in order to prevent these types of unnecessary deaths,” he said.
A Missouri Department of Social Services released a report this year finding that fentanyl-related child deaths in 2022 nearly doubled.
“We’ve identified over 500 residences where we know there’s a history of narcotic activity, and we believe there’s potentially as many as 1,000 children in our community that are currently at risk,” Harrell said.
Wood said additional charges could be filed as investigators continue to evaluate drugs that were found at the scene.
Anyone with information on Adam Hausermann’s whereabouts should contact the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office at 636-528-8571.
