Police have charged a Washington County mother with criminal homicide following the death of her 1-year-old daughter as a result of fentanyl toxicity.
The charges were filed against 32-year-old Lindsey Rae Reho, of North Franklin.
The incident took place the morning of June 10 when paramedics arrived at Reho’s apartment for a report of an unresponsive child TribLive reported.
The baby, who was identified by the initials K.B., was transported to Washington Hospital where she died.
At the hospital, medics were said to have told police that while they were trying to save the child, Reho was overheard saying, “Do you think she got into something?” and asked about Narcan after.
The “mother intimated to the paramedics that they might want to use Narcan, which obviously would signal there’s some type of opiate may have been involved,” Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said to WTAE. “Later, the mom was interviewed with regard to those types of statements or anything of that nature. And she admitted to being a user and using fentanyl.”
Reho initially admitted to being a heroin addict, but claimed she had been clean for about six years.
In July, a toxicology report from the Washington County Coroner found that the baby had fentanyl and norfentanyl in her system and the cause of death was fentanyl toxicity, TribLive reported.
“After [the] toxicology report came back, there was a very high number of fentanyl in this child’s system. That’s why we waited to file until now. We then had to test again just to make sure because the number was so high and it was consistent,” Walsh said to WTAE.
In another interview that was later conducted, Reho admitted to using heroin almost daily as well as methadone, understanding that when she buys heroin, she is actually getting fentanyl.
On the morning her daughter became unresponsive, Reho acknowledged bagging up and throwing old drugs and paraphernalia from her old apartment into her new apartment’s kitchen garbage can. Afterward, she left to go to a methadone clinic.
When she returned, she was in contact with her baby while cooking breakfast and washing dishes. After the baby was placed in her pack-and-play a short time later, she was found by her father unresponsive, TribLive reported.
Walsh said to WTAE that the amount of fentanyl that was in the child’s system could not have been caused by trace contact.
In addition to criminal homicide, Reho is also charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.
She was denied bail during her arraignment on Tuesday and is being held in the Washington County Jail.
Her next preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 4.
