San Jose parents charged with murder after toddler dies of fentanyl, meth poisoning
BY KTVU STAFF
SAN JOSE, Calif., (FOX-35) - In an unprecedented move, the Santa Clara County District Attorney on Wednesday announced prosecutors charged two parents with the murder of their 18-month-old daughter, who died of fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.
The charge stems from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s finding on Nov. 2, which revealed that Winter Rose Rayo had a fentanyl blood concentration of 74 ng/mL in her bloodstream.
Blood concentrations as low as 5 ng/mL can be lethal.
Armed with the coroner's results, San Jose police served a warrant at the home of Derek Vaughn Rayo, 27, and Kelly Gene Richardson, 28, in the 1500 block of Huddersfield Court.
Rayo is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon. Richardson is not in custody and does not have an arraignment date scheduled at this time.
Efforts to speak to them or their attorneys were not immediately successful.
This is the first time that the Santa Clara County DA’s Office has charged parents with the murder of their own child in a fentanyl-related death.
"This innocent child and her sad and stolen life," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "This is not a law enforcement official overreacting to an illegal substance. Fentanyl will kill you as easily as a bullet. It is killing the children of our community."
As prosecutors and police laid out the allegations, officer arrived at the family's home just before midnight on Aug. 12 after Rayo had summoned them by calling 911.
Paramedics observed that the toddler had been dead for hours.
During a search of the home, investigators located fentanyl on the nightstand of the master bedroom, and scraping tools with fentanyl residue on the desk and on a rug located underneath the girl’s body.
Homicide detectives also ended up taking multiple electronic devices belonging to the couple, prosecutors said.
On them were text and social media messages showing narcotic use at the house when the child was present, prosecutors said. There were also photos and videos on Richardson’s phone showing Rayo smoking drugs near Winter, court documents allege.
Other people living with the couple had actually texted concerns about using drugs near the toddler, prosecutors said.
While this is the first fentanyl-related parental murder charge in Santa Clara County, the DA's office is also prosecuting another case of a 3-month-old baby, who was found dead in a San Jose apartment littered with fentanyl.
In that case, though, prosecutors charged father David Anthony Castro, 38, with felony child neglect and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.
His child, Baby Phoenix, died from consuming methamphetamine and fentanyl in May.
Phoenix's mother was not home when she died. She also died from an overdose in September, officials said.
The Santa Clara County DA has already charged at least four other fentanyl-related cases with murder – the difference is that these defendants are not parents.
Around the state, other prosecutors are turning to murder charges with fentanyl is involved.
In July, Nathaniel Cabacungan, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder following the death of 15-year-old Jewels Wolf of Roseville, Calif.
The Placer County District Attorney said it was the first fentanyl murder conviction of its kind in the state.
According to 1pillcankill.placer.com, fentanyl is now the No. 1 cause of death among 18- to 45-year-olds in the United States.
