A woman has been arrested in the death of her 1-year-old son, who possibly ingested fentanyl, according to Seattle police.
The mother, 39, faces two counts of reckless endangerment related to domestic violence and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree, King County prosecutor’s office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said. She’s also under investigation for first-degree manslaughter, police wrote.
Seattle police responded to an apartment just before 12:30 p.m. Sunday in the Atlantic neighborhood, after firefighters reported the infant was not breathing and may have ingested fentanyl, according to court documents provided by King County District Court on Tuesday.
The woman told firefighters that she had fentanyl in the home and that her son may have gotten access to it, according to the court records. Firefighters tried to save the child’s life, but he died.
Responding police officers recounted the mother seemed intoxicated at the time and said, “It’s all my fault.”
The woman told police that she had a drug addiction and kept fentanyl in her house, but that she normally kept the drugs in a container on top of a cabinet inside the bathroom, which she locks to keep the children out of it.
She reportedly told officers she was in the apartment with her son and 2-year-old daughter when she took a nap on the sofa while holding her son around 11 a.m.
When the mother woke up, she reportedly said, she was still holding her son, but he was limp and not breathing. She also noticed that the bathroom door was open with the light on.
The mother couldn’t explain how the children could have gotten into the container of drugs and couldn’t tell officers where the fentanyl was.
The boy’s father told police he was at the apartment earlier that morning but was away at work. The woman didn’t say anyone else was in the home at the time, though the 911 call made from her phone reportedly had a male voice on the other end, and that person did not know the address of the apartment.
Police believe the mother was the sole adult responsible for the death. The daughter was in the custody of other family members.
The official cause and manner of death remained pending investigation by the King County medical examiner’s office.
