ROSS COUNTY, Ohio— A grand jury indicted a Ross County mother and charged her in connection with the death of her one-year-old child.
On Friday, August 20, 2021, 9-1-1 received a call from the mother who said her son was dead.
Deputies with medics from Huntington Township responded to the home on Sullivan Road.
Upon arrival, deputies rushed to begin CPR. Medics transported the boy to Adena Regional Medical Center, where doctors said he was dead on arrival.
Initially, the mom told investigators that a severe respiratory infection led to the 1-year-old’s death. She told the police that her son had been sick for nearly a week. The family revealed to the Guardian that a nurse practitioner saw the boy and his twin brother at urgent care in Chillicothe. The doctor, the family said, diagnosed them with ear infections and upper respiratory issues. By Thursday evening, the boy’s mother said the child was having difficulty breathing. The following morning, around 5 a.m., she awoke to find her son unresponsive. Detective Eddie Wheaton of the Ross County Sheriff’s Office called the one-year-old’s death suspicious.
The Ross County Coroner’s Office took the boy’s body for a forensic autopsy. In that autopsy, officials found the child died with a massive amount of Suboxone in his system, the family said.
According to SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), “Buprenorphine (Suboxone) is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) as a medication-assisted treatment (MAT).”
How did the Suboxone get into the child’s system?
A source close to the family told the Guardian that the mother confessed that an older child got into the medication and dumped it in the playpen where the one-year-old was. A call for help would not occur until after the baby was found not breathing.
What happened next?
Recent documents show deputies assisted Ross County Children’s Services in removing three other children from the mother’s care under an emergency court order.
On Friday, the mother, Amanda Lowery, 30, of Chillicothe was taken into custody.
The Guardian took a more in-depth look at this story and uncovered some disturbing details.
Here’s what we know:
Amanda Lowery had an active warrant for child endangerment at the time of the child’s death. According to reports, in July, of 2021, a 10-year-old stepchild of Lowery was tased with a stun gun at the residence. Because of a clerical error, officials dropped those charges. Weeks later, reports say, a brother-in-law overdosed in the driveway of the family’s home and nearly died. Deputies and medics responded and administered Narcan, saving the man’s life. A week later came the death of her child.
Investigators have been trying to figure out if this was a series of unfortunate events or a patterned escalation.
Amanda Lowery is charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangerment.