A Pickaway County woman and her mother are facing criminal charges after the woman's 17-month-old daughter died from a fentanyl overdose, according to the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office.
At around 11:14 a.m. Oct. 13, deputies from the sheriff's office and Scioto Township medics responded to an apartment building in the 7800 block of North High Street in Orient on a report of a toddler girl not breathing, the sheriff's office said. Scioto Township medics started CPR on the toddler before transferring her to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus.
The girl died just before noon at the hospital, according to the sheriff's office. An autopsy conducted on Oct. 14 found that the toddler had a "fatal amount" of fentanyl in her system.
While the
toddler was at the hospital, detectives made contact with her mother, 30-year-old Brittany Stroud, the sheriff's office said. Detectives learned through working with Franklin County Children Services and the National Youth Advocate Program that Brittany was not supposed to have unsupervised visitation with the toddler, and that the toddler was supposed to be in the custody of Tammy Stroud, 52, who is Brittany's mother, according to the sheriff's office.
After the completion of the autopsy, the sheriff's office executed search warrants at the apartment on North High Street and other locations. On Oct. 16, detectives filed charges against Brittany Stroud of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and possession of a controlled substance.
Tammy Stroud faces charges of complicity to involuntary manslaughter, complicity to child endangerment, and complicity to possession of a controlled substance, the sheriff's office said.
Tammy surrendered to the sheriff's office on Oct. 18 and was ordered held in lieu of a $250,000 bond, according to the sheriff's office. As of the evening of Oct. 19, Brittany Stroud was not in custody, according to Pickaway County jail records, and she is still being sought by law enforcement.
Brittany Stroud is known to frequent the Franklin County/Columbus area, the sheriff's office said.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Pickaway County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Dauberman at 740-420-5752 or call 911.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Pickaway County woman, mother charged in fentanyl overdose of 17-month-old daughter
