Child fentanyl death, Waukesha County mom charged with neglect
Elida Tejeda
SUSSEX, Wis. - A Sussex mother is accused of felony child neglect after prosecutors say her 1-year-old daughter died of a fentanyl overdose in May.
Court records show 34-year-old Elida Tejeda is being held in the Waukesha County Jail on $100,000 bond. According to a criminal complaint, an anonymous source said she planned to flee the country because she was anticipating charges related to the girl's death.
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Prosecutors said deputies were called to an apartment the morning of May 19 after the 1-year-old girl was found pulseless and not breathing. Tejeda was "in visible distress" – repeating "Not my baby! Not my baby!" – as first responders tried to resuscitate the child.
Once at a hospital, the complaint states the girl was given multiple doses of epinephrine and three rounds of naloxone as staff continued to administer CPR. Despite those attempts, she was pronounced dead around 7:30 a.m. that morning.
Tejeda interviewed
On the day of the girl's death, prosecutors said investigators asked Tejeda a number of questions about what happened. Throughout the process, she seemed "confused" and unsure of what happened prior to the 911 call. She said it was only her, the 1-year-old girl and her 17-year-old son who were home at the time.
A search of the apartment found uncapped needles, per the complaint, as well as a burnt spoon and "crack pipes" in the living room where the mother and baby reportedly slept. A joint was found on the couch where the child was ultimately found. A substance that later tested positive for fentanyl was also found in the apartment.
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Tejeda told investigators that the 1-year-old girl had no known medical issues, allergies or prescribed medications, according to the complaint. Investigators said she would "contradict herself" at times while providing statements about what happened on the day leading up to the girl's death.
Prosecutors said Tejeda told investigators that she and her daughter fell asleep on a makeshift bed of blankets on the floor, but she later woke up to find the child on the couch. She said she moved the girl back to the floor, concerned she might fall and hurt herself, and woke up in the morning to find the baby on the couch – "blue and did not appear to be breathing" – and assumed the baby choked on something.
Waukesha County Sheriff's Department
Tejeda admitted the needles were used for heroin "a few days before" the 1-year-old's death, the complaint states, and she said she had smoked marijuana the previous day. She tried to explain where one of the needles came from, but the detective "was unable to make sense" of the statements and sequence of events. She admitted there was probably marijuana in the apartment, but denied the presence of any other illegal drugs.
Detectives interviewed Tejeda again in July and told her it was believed the baby died of a fentanyl overdose. According to prosecutors, she was asked again about the placement of her "drug equipment," and she said she was "being reckless" because she was "scared."
Cause of death
An autopsy later found the 1-year-old girl had 10 nanograms of fentanyl in her blood, prosecutors said – which the medical examiner's office described as being "enough to kill an adult."
The medical examiner's office ultimately determined that, based on the autopsy and toxicology results, as well as a review of the girl's medical records and scene photographs, that the girl's cause of death was "intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl" in the manner of homicide on May 19.