A Detroit-area couple have been charged in the Christmas Day death of their 18-month-old daughter who died of a drug overdose, according to prosecutors.
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith told the Free Press that Ava ingested up to 15 times the dose of fentanyl that authorities have seen in the past 30 overdose deaths in Macomb County.
The Macomb County Medical Examiner’s Office told police that Ava had an “extraordinary level of the narcotic Fentanyl in her system at the time of death,” according to a news release cited by the Free Press.
Smith said it was the highest level of fentanyl the medical examiner’s office had ever seen in a person’s system, let alone a young child. It was enough to kill several adults.
Barksdale and Floyd were manufacturing drugs out of their Clinton Township home, said police.
The toddler is believed to have ingested the fentanyl by drinking it, prosecutors allege.
Smith noted the country’s opioid epidemic but stressed that “to see an infant experience such a tragic death on Christmas morning as a result of ingesting a large quantity of her parents’ Fentanyl is truly gut-wrenching.”
On Christmas Day, Ava was discovered not breathing and transported to the St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Warren where doctors pronounced her dead, Macomb Daily reported.
No signs of abuse or trauma were observed by hospital staff, said the report.
On Jan. 10, police carried out search warrants on Ava’s grandmother’s home and the Floyd and Barksdale home. That’s when they discovered evidence of the couple’s manufacturing and distributing drugs, Smith said.
Other than second-degree murder, the couple was charged with manslaughter, delivery, and manufacturing of a controlled substance, second-degree child abuse, and possession of a firearm while committing a felony.
Floyd, who is a convicted felon, was also charged with felon in possession of a weapon and felony firearm possession.
They are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 22.
Other details about the incident have not been provided by officials.
Fentanyl Overdoses
In August, President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass a measure to stop synthetic opioid drugs such as fentanyl from being transported into the United States via the U.S. Postal Service system.“It is outrageous that Poisonous Synthetic Heroin Fentanyl comes pouring into the U.S. Postal System from China,” he wrote on Aug. 20.
“In China, you have some pretty big companies sending that garbage and killing our people,” Trump said at the time.
The majority—or least 68 percent—of those deaths could be attributed to opioids such as fentanyl.
