A 34-year-old Sussex woman has been charged with a felony after her 15-month-old daughter died of a fentanyl overdose in May.
Elida Tejeda appeared in Waukesha County Circuit Court Oct. 4 on one count of child neglect causing death. According to the criminal complaint:
- The deputies were dispatched to Tejeda’s Sussex apartment, where her 17-year-old son also lives, on Pewaukee Road at 6:39 a.m. May 19 as Tejeda found her daughter blue and not breathing. Her daughter was transported to Froedtert Community Hospital.
- The emergency room staff administrated several rounds of epinephrine, three rounds of Narcan and CPR. Tejeda’s daughter was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
- With a search warrant, deputies found a large amount of drug paraphernalia that included used uncapped needles and partially used syringes (the substance on the syringes was unknown). Investigators found a rock-like substance that weighed 0.1 grams and tested positive for fentanyl. There was drug paraphernalia in the living room, the mother’s bedroom and in the kitchen.
- Deputies found a large amount of drug paraphernalia in her bedroom, which she said she kept out of the way from her toddler. Drug paraphernalia was located in the living room, the mother’s bedroom and in the kitchen.
- The investigators concluded the child was within 14 inches of a burnt spoon and uncapped needles.
- The autopsy showed 10 nanograms of fentanyl and in the child’s system at a level “enough to kill an adult,” according to the autopsy from the Medical Examiner’s Office.
- The cause of death was found to be intoxication by the combined effects of the drugs, and the death was ruled a homicide.