(BOYNTON BEACH, FL)– A 32-year-old woman has been arrested after an infant in her care died after ingesting fentanyl.
Kelly Kirwan was taken into custody on Tuesday for the March 31st death of the 10-month-old girl.
Authorities say they were called to the intersection of Boynton Beach Boulevard and Military Trail around 8:00 p.m. on March 31 after the child suffered a medical episode in Kirwan’s car.
The child was rushed to Bethesda East Hospital where doctors reported that the child “suffered cardiac arrest as a result of alcohol toxicity.”
Kirwan told investigators that earlier in the day the child was fussy and inconsolable so she made her a bottle of formula and laid her down to sleep.
When Kirwan went back to pick up the child, she noticed the child appeared to be “excessively drowsy and slumping her head forward.”
Kirwan then put the child in the car and began driving to Target to get more formula.
During the drive, Kirwan was on a video call with a man who noticed that the child was “making strange noises while slumped over.”
Kirwan then pulled over and called the police.
When searching Kirwan’s apartment on April 1st, authorities noticed “Benadryl pills on the couch, several prescription pill bottles throughout the apartment, and a bar containing bottles of alcohol.” They also found an “empty capsule on the bed in the master bedroom, and a second capsule “appearing to have chew marks on it” that was floating in the toilet.
They also notice a pacifier near one of the empty capsules.
Both capsules had a “tentative positive result” for fentanyl and parafluorofentanyl.
On the same day, the hospital notified authorities that the infant “did not have any brain activity or nerve response.” She was eventually taken off life support on April 5th.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death as a homicide due to “Intoxication of Fluorofentanyl and Fentanyl due to Ingestion of these Illicit narcotics in an Unsafe Environment.”
Kirwan’s bond was set at $300,000. She is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.