A 2-year-old girl found unresponsive in a stroller on the West Side this summer died from a drug overdose, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office found, classifying her death as a homicide.
Around 4 p.m. on July 15, a 43-year-old woman flagged down Chicago police officers in the 2600 block of West Roosevelt Road to report that the child she was pushing in a stroller had become unresponsive. Officers rushed the child and the woman to Stroger Hospital, where doctors pronounced the girl dead, CPD said.
At the time, a source told CWBChicago that investigators suspected the child may have overdosed after getting into a family member’s drug stash. The girl weighed about 20 pounds, the source said.
At least some of those suspicions are now confirmed. The medical examiner’s office announced that the toddler died from a combined overdose of methadone and tramadol, a strong opioid painkiller.
Chicago police have been conducting a death investigation. So far, no criminal charges have been announced.
