Two North Bay parents are being held on $100,000 bail on child abuse charges stemming from their toddler's death on Monday.
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The Santa Rosa Police Department announced on Monday it had arrested Evan Frostick, 26, and Madison Bernard, 23, each on a felony count of cruelty to a child likely to produce great bodily injury or death following the death of their 15-month-old daughter that morning.
Officials said officers responded to the 800 block of Sonoma Avenue at 10:39 a.m. following a report of an unresponsive toddler. A Santa Rosa police spokesperson told KCBS Radio in an email on Monday night that Bernard initially called police.
The department said in a release on Monday night that first responders "began life-saving measures" on the girl, who wasn't breathing, and she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Frostick and Bernard were arrested later on Monday. Officers discovered "suspected fentanyl near where the toddler was found" when they first arrived on the scene, the Santa Rosa Police Department said.
Officers then obtained a search warrant for the home, finding "packaged and unpackaged suspected fentanyl and fentanyl paraphernalia" in the main bedroom, including the bed in which the toddler slept with her parents.
The spokesperson said samples have been sent to the U.S. Department of Justice for "analysis and confirmation," as Santa Rosa police "no longer test drugs and narcotics on scene because of how dangerous it can be."
"Based on other factors in the investigation, we believe it is fentanyl," the spokesperson said.
The Sonoma County Sheriff Coroner's Office has not yet conducted an autopsy and toxicology testing. Police said the screenings will be conducted "later this week," and the spokesperson said results are expected "in a few weeks." They said the toddler's condition made it difficult to tell if she had shown symptoms of a fentanyl overdose.
Frostick and Bernard are being held in the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa, according to Sonoma County Sheriff's Office records. The pair is scheduled to appear in court in Santa Rosa on Wednesday afternoon.
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