Missouri woman charged in toddler's drug death may be responsible for drug-related deaths of 3 other children, authorities say

A Missouri woman who was caring for a toddler who died with fentanyl and another drug in her system is facing criminal charges, and authorities say the woman may be responsible for the drug-related deaths of three other children.

Mary Curtis, 30, of Jennings, was jailed on $1 million cash-only bond. St. Louis County prosecutors on Thursday charged her with endangering the welfare of a child in the death of 17-month-old Brailey Stevenson. Police did not disclose Curtis' relationship with the child.

Curtis was watching Brailey in her home on March 20, when Brailey went to sleep on the floor, according to police. Curtis took the child to another home and called police. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A toxicology report showed Brailey had lethal levels of fentanyl and xylazine in her system, police said. The toddler appeared to be normal when she was placed with Curtis and appeared to be unconscious when Curtis brought her to the other caretaker, authorities told CBS affiliate KMOV-TV.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes xylazine as a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use that has been linked to an increasing number of overdose deaths. "Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said last month.

A phone message left Monday with Curtis' attorney wasn't immediately returned.

Curtis was out on bond in connection with the death of a previous child. Police declined to elaborate, but Curtis' mother, Nadine Richardson, told KTVI-TV that the earlier charge was filed after Curtis' 17-day-old child died in 2021. Richardson said Curtis was using methadone to treat a heroin addiction at the time.

Curtis also was connected to two other child overdose cases that resulted in deaths, according to police, but they didn't elaborate. Richardson said Curtis had drug-exposed twins born five months prematurely, who died soon after they were born in 2020.

It wasn't clear if Curtis was being investigated in those two additional deaths.

Curtis has been investigated by the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division several times, KMOV-TV reported.

Prosecutors in St. Louis County also accused Curtis of resisting arrest for a felony after police claimed she evaded a traffic stop, crashed a vehicle and fled officers in September 2022, the station reported.

In:
• Overdose
• Fentanyl

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