COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police on Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, arrested a mother who had been wanted in the fentanyl death of her 17-month-old daughter in Pickaway County, according to reporting by The Columbus Dispatch. Brittany Stroud, 30, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance in the Oct. 13 death, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and medics responded about 11:15 a.m. Oct. 13 to a call that the baby was not breathing on the 7800 block of High Street in Scioto Township, the sheriff’s office said previously, in statements reported by The Columbus Dispatch. Medics took the child to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, where she died just before noon, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
An autopsy performed Oct. 14 by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office found a fatal amount of fentanyl in the baby’s system, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Prosecutors filed charges Oct. 16 against Brittany Stroud and against her mother, Tammy Stroud, 52, who is charged with complicity to involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and complicity to possession of a controlled substance, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The sheriff’s office said the baby was supposed to be in the custody of Tammy Stroud, and that Brittany Stroud was not supposed to have unsupervised visitation with the child because of a court order, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Those custody details, released by the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office, form part of the case prosecutors filed in Pickaway County.
Tammy Stroud turned herself in on Oct. 18, but Brittany Stroud remained at large until Columbus police arrested her on the morning of Oct. 27, The Columbus Dispatch reported. No further details about the location or circumstances of Tuesday’s arrest were included in The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting.
Brittany Stroud is being held in the Pickaway County Jail, according to The Columbus Dispatch. She awaits an arraignment hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The charges are allegations, and the case will proceed through the Pickaway County court system.
The case is the latest in a series of Ohio child deaths involving fentanyl exposure that have drawn attention from law enforcement and child-welfare officials across the state. For Pickaway County families, the next public step is Wednesday’s arraignment, where the charges will be formally presented in court.
Photo: Raymond Wambsgans, CC BY-SA 2.0