LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police say a large amount of fentanyl was found in the blood of an infant who died under suspicious circumstances in September.
A newly released Las Vegas police declaration of warrant said the assessment was made based on preliminary toxicology tests taken by the coroner’s office. Ace Martinelli died Sept. 18, a day before his 8-month birthday.
His mother and father are each facing multiple counts of child abuse.
The Clark County coroner’s office ruled the baby’s cause of death as fentanyl toxicity, but the manner of death was undetermined.
Police said they searched the couple’s home and found it “in complete disarray.”
Richard Schonfeld, an attorney for the baby’s father, Timothy Martinelli, told the Review-Journal he expects his client will be exonerated. Court records indicate a public defender has been assigned to represent the baby’s mother, Brandi Krantz, but did not respond to a request for comment from the newspaper. The Associated Press was not able to reach the public defender’s office after business hours.
Police said authorities had been called about the baby’s well-being before, including the day before his birth when Clark County Child Protective Services was informed that his mother had tested positive for amphetamines at a local hospital. She told an investigator she is prescribed Adderall by a doctor.