The parents of a 2-year-old who died of accidental fentanyl overdose will face criminal charges in the girl’s death.
Jada’Marie Glenn-Turnerdied Feb. 24 in the Lakewood motel where she had been living with her parents and two siblings. The toddler’s parents, Rashad Turner and Denisha Chelyce Woodsking, told police that they sold drugs from the motel room but didn’t know how the girl died.
Turner and Woodsking each face a charge of child abuse resulting in death, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Lakewood police responded about 5:13 a.m., Feb. 24 to the room at the Crosslands Motel on Kipling Street after Woodsking called 911 to report that she found Jada’Marie dead.
Woodsking told police that she woke up early that morning and noticed the toddler was in the same position she had been when the girl went to sleep, according to an arrest affidavit. That was unusual for Jada’Marie, Woodsking said, and she touched her daughter to make sure she was okay.
Jada’Marie was stiff and cold to the touch and Woodsking yelled for Turner to wake up before calling 911. When police arrived, they found heroin, marijuana, Xanax and Oxycodone in the room’s trash can, according to the affidavit.
Turner told detectives that he kept the drugs he sold in a lunchbox on a high shelf so the kids couldn’t reach it. Both parents told investigators that they did not see Jada’Marie ingest any drugs and did not know why she died.
Both parents said Jada’Marie was a healthy child with no known health conditions. The girl acted normally the night before her death, they told police. Family members described her as “an active 2-year-old who liked to bug her big brother and play with her little sister,” according to the affidavit.
Woodsking had previously been charged with child abuse for selling drugs while her kids were present, according to the affidavit.
The Jefferson County coroner’s office ruled the death an accidental fentanyl overdose. The toxicology report, completed April 6, found that the amount of fentanyl in Jada’Marie’s blood was triple the fatal level, according to the affidavit.
Turner and Woodsking remained Monday in the Jefferson County jail on $50,000 bond. Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 12.
“They knowingly and recklessly placed their three children in an unreasonable situation that resulted in Jada’Marie’s death,” the affidavit states. “They admitted to selling narcotics out of a very small studio size motel room where their three children resided with them.”
The couple’s two other young children have been placed with a family member.
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