A father got so high his pupils shrunk to the size of pin holes before falling asleep on his toddler and killed her, police say. Dylan Staines, 27, allegedly killed 14 month-old Kennedy Staines at his home in Amity Township, Pennsylvania, in February, and was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday.
The Morning Call reported that Staines called 911 on the evening of his daughter’s death saying that Kennedy had gone into cardiac and respiratory distress, and that he was attempting CPR on her. Paramedics were dispatched to the scene, where they continued CPR and used a defibrillator on Kennedy, before taking her to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.
A subsequent autopsy ruled her cause of death as ‘mechanical asphyxia due to overlay.’
Kennedy’s mom Krista Labenz told investigators she, Staines and their daughter had been in their bedroom when she left the room for five minutes. Labenz said she returned five minutes later to find Kennedy face-down on the mattress, covered with a blanket.
Police officers who arrived at the scene noted Staines’ ‘pin hole’ pupils, and detected a strong odor of weed, it is claimed. He was ordered to take a drug test, with results showing he’d taken synthetic opioid fentanyl and marijuana. Investigators are said to have seized drug paraphernalia from the home as part of their investigation.
Staines surrendered to police on Wednesday, and has also been charged with child endangerment, as well as drugs offenses. He is being held in Berks County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond. An online obituary set up in the wake of Kennedy’s death said: ‘She was loved and cherished by many people.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
