Mom gave teen ‘pill that she found in her drawer’ to treat toothache, 10 hours later she was dead: Police

A 35-year-old woman in Missouri has been arrested for allegedly giving a 14-year-old girl a lethal dose of fentanyl to help her deal with a toothache, leading to the teen girl suffering a fatal overdose. Jacquelyn R. Powers was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.

While authorities did not clarify the nature of the relationship between Powers and the victim, identified in the filings as “VT,” several news outlets have reported that Powers was the child’s mother.

According to a criminal complaint filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, prosecutors allege that Powers last month, “knowingly acted in a manner that created a substantial risk to the life” of the victim by “giving her a pill that contained fentanyl, causing her death.”

A probable cause affidavit from the Overland Police Department provided additional context about the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.

Police wrote that on Oct. 3, 2024, the 14-year-old victim had been complaining to Powers that she had a toothache. Powers then allegedly gave the child “a pill that she found in her drawer,” telling investigators that she believed the pill was “oxycodone from her own previous surgery.”

Unfortunately, about 10 hours after Powers gave her the pill, the victim was found dead. A subsequent autopsy determined that the victim’s cause of death was a fentanyl overdose. Test results also showed that the victim did not have any oxycodone in her system at the time of her death.

In an interview with police, Powers allegedly provided more details showcasing her culpability in the victim’s death.

“The Defendant told police she had traded some oxycodone to her mom in exchange for pills that her mom bought on the street,” the affidavit states. “Defendant said she kept those pills in a drawer.”

Powers explained that she traded her previously prescribed oxycodone to her mother “in an effort to ‘protect’ her mom from dangerous pills” allegedly purchased off the street, the affidavit states.

A warrant for Powers’ arrest states that “other street drugs were located inside the home” of Powers along with “other minor children.”

Following an investigation, a warrant for Powers’ arrest was issued Thursday and she was taken into custody at her home in the 9500 block of Echo Lane in St. Louis on Friday afternoon.

“This is tragic,” Overland Police Department Captain. Jim Morgan told St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI. “This shouldn’t happen. She’s 14 and had a lot of years to look forward to.”

Powers is currently being held in detention at the St. Louis County Jail on $150,000 cash-only bond. She is currently scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Nov. 19 and again for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 11.

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