A Minnesota couple was charged last week in connection to the death of their 1-year-old daughter who died after ingesting fentanyl belonging to her mother.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Tessa Vorlicky, 20, of St. Paul with two counts of second-degree manslaughter. Her boyfriend Derrick Harrison, 26, was charged with child endangerment.
According to prosecutors, police responded to Vorlicky’s mother’s home on December 1, 2023, after a 911 caller said the child was having difficulty breathing. The 911 dispatcher reported hearing a woman in the background asking if the child had been given Narcan, the drug administered for opioid overdoses.
When responding officers arrived at the scene, Vorlicky fled but was later taken into custody on previous warrants. Harrison, who was also wanted on outstanding warrants, was arrested at the scene.
The child, 1-year-old Mi’Vida Vorlicky, was transported to a nearby hospital where she was treated with Narcan. However, her condition grew worse and she was later declared brain dead on December 5.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner found fentanyl and the metal foil in Mi’Vida’s stomach. Her cause of death was ruled as acute fentanyl toxicity.
According to court records, Vorlicky’s mother told responding officers that both her daughter and Harris were addicted to drugs which they often smoked from tinfoil. She told the police that they would find drug paraphernalia in her daughter’s upstairs bedroom.
A search of the home turned up a glass pipe, a baggie with 0.23 grams of methamphetamine, over 70 crumpled-up pieces of foil with drug residue, a fentanyl pill, and other drug paraphernalia, all of which Vorlicky denied were hers.
Harrison, who said he and Vorlicky had separated, said when he arrived at the house to check on his daughter, he found her struggling to breathe. He alerted Vorlicky’s mother and the two attempted to revive the child.
Harrison denied using the same drugs as his ex-girlfriend but admitted to police that the couple frequently discussed Vorlicky’s drug problem. He told officers that he “accepted responsibility” for not getting his daughter away from her drug-addicted mother, police said.
