Milwaukee Mother Charged After 5-Year-Old's Death

MILWAUKEE, WI — A 24-year-old Milwaukee woman was charged with child neglect resulting in death after her 5-year-old son's death was investigated as a probable fentanyl overdose, prosecutors said.

Kanesha Jones was charged with neglecting a child resulting in death, neglecting a child under six years old and bail jumping, a criminal complaint said. Her son Kayden was found unresponsive on May 11 and police are investigating after a substance found in her house tested positive for fentanyl.

A court ordered Jones to be held on a $15,000 bail, court records showed. She was being held at the Milwaukee County Jail on Saturday.

Firefighters from the Milwaukee Fire Department tried to save Kayden Jones' life when he was found unresponsive and not breathing at the 6900 block of N. 37th Street, prosecutors said. Jones told responding police officers she checked on her son after he took a nap on her bed, but noticed he wasn't breathing and his lips were blue.

Police found marijuana inside her house and searched a dumpster that belonged to the residence, prosecutors said. Officers found baggies used in street drug sales inside a garbage bag, along with a foil wrap with a "white powdery substance" inside and a clear plastic bag with a "chunky white substance" inside.

The "chunky" substance tested positive for fentanyl, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, a toxicologist from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office found a lethal amount of fentanyl in Kayden's system.

Jones told police she smoked marijuana occasionally and her boyfriend and his brothers were over on May 11, prosecutors said. Her boyfriend was charged with possession of heroin, possession of cocaine and first degree reckless homicide, but was out on $5,000 bail.

The woman told police she knew that her boyfriend sold drugs and he packaged a chunky white substance on the kitchen counter with his brothers, prosecutors said. After her son died, Jones said she suspected he died after being exposed to an illicit substance.

See Also: 5-Year-Old's Death Investigated As Fentanyl Poisoning: MKE Examiner