13-Month-Old Suffocated to Death by Mom Who Overdosed, Rolled on Top of Him

In January 2019, a tragic accident took a turn for

the worse when a New Jersey mother overdosed and rolled over on top of her son, smothering the toddler to death. That woman, 33-year-old Antionette King, was charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in the 13-month-old toddler’s death.

Grandmother Found Mom, Child

King’s grandmother, Gail King, who lived in the same home, found the woman passed out in bed on top of Jerimah King at their home. She immediately called 9-1-1. Police and paramedics found the mother and child in the bed around 8:30 p.m. and immediately transported Antoinette and Jerimiah to Virtua Memorial Health Center.

Jerimiah passed away a short time later. His cause of death was determined to be compression asphyxia.

Medical staff revived Antoinette after giving her a dose of Narcan.

Antoinette had been drinking alcohol and using drugs before she overdosed and passed out on top of her toddler. Antoinette was the mother of a 5-year-old child who was also in the home at the time. Thankfully, that child was not injured.

She was taken into custody immediately following her release from the hospital. Burlington County Sheriff’s Department charged Antoinette with one count of endangering the welfare of a child in the second degree.

Antoinette Couldn’t Remember the Incident

She told police she could not remember what had happened in the hours preceding her overdose. She did recall drinking “four airplane bottles” of alcohol and ingesting a Percocet 10 tablet at around 6:30 p.m. She stated she was in a cab and headed to a hotel to “hang with friends.” She did not remember anything else until she woke up at the hospital.

Antoinette learned later the Percocet pulls had been laced with carfentanil. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says carfentanil can be 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

Sentenced to 4 Years

Antoinette pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She was sentenced to four years behind bars in a New Jersey state prison. She served her time and has since been released.

My Thoughts

Cases like this make me happy I’m not involved with the court system. It’s heartbreaking, definitely not an intentional act, but extremely negligent that cost a child, her child, and his life. One side of me says she deserves to spend the rest of her life behind bars while the other side of me says it was an extremely tragic accident. The pain of losing her son shows in her mugshot photos, and she’ll always live with the facts. I just hate that this happened.

My condolences to the family. Rest easy, Jerimiah.

Sources:

https://www.fox29.com/news/mother-sentenced-to-4-years-in-prison-in-suffocation-death-of-13-month-old-child

https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/2019/11/08/antoinette-king-lumberton-mother-passed-out-on-toddler-prison/2533383001/

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