A lengthy investigation by Edmonton Police Service (EPS) led to three people being charged with the death of a 23-month-old boy.
On September 15, it was reported that the toddler’s 34-year-old mother allowed a friend to take care of her son. As the friend took the child for a walk, the boy was showing signs of medical distress.
The friend returned the baby to the Edmonton home, where the three accused made several attempts to treat the boy’s medical distress but were unsuccessful.
At around 6:30 p.m., five hours after the boy began showing going into medical distress, the mother took the child to a nearby clinic. A staff member found the child unresponsive and called 911, where EMS transported the boy to hospital.
Unfortunately, the boy was declared deceased on arrival.
On November 17, police received a toxicology report which confirmed the cause of death was an overdose of carfentanil, fentanyl, and p-fluorofentanyl, which the boy is believed to have ingested accidentally.
On December 11, police arrested and charged the mother’s friend, the mother, and her common law partner with criminal negligence causing death.
The mother and the common law partner, who is not the child’s biological father, turned themselves in on December 27.
EPS are not naming the accused to protect the identity of other youth in the family.
