Minnesota Mother Charged With Overdose Death of Her Young Son
Hastings, MN (KROC-AM News) - Conditional bail was set at $250,000 today in the case of a Twin Cities woman charged in connection with the death of her young son.
The second-degree manslaughter charge against 34-year-old Queenetta McDaniel stems from an investigation that began on December 7, 2020, when three-year-old Amier McDaniel was found dead in an apartment in West St. Paul. The Maplewood woman called 911 after she woke and found her son was not breathing. According to the criminal complaint filed in Dakota County Court, an autopsy determined that the child's death was caused by acute fentanyl toxicity.
The charging document says witnesses told police McDaniel was "a heavy and habitual user of illicit drugs, including fentanyl." It was also reported that she had been using drugs, including smoking fentanyl, while she and her son were staying at the residence in West St. Paul.
A summary of the complaint says members of a drug task force informed investigators looking into the child's death that a resident of the apartment was suspected of selling fentanyl and other illegal drugs. It also says the officers who interacted with McDaniel after being dispatched to the apartment noted "some indication of drug intoxication in her behavior." A search warrant was obtained for a sample of her blood and testing found it contained fentanyl and a metabolite of the potent opioid.