CORNVILLE, Arizona — A 9-year-old girl in Cornville helped save her own mother from a heroin overdose. According to law enforcement, Kaila Van Orden was passed out in the driver's seat of her car when police showed up and her daughter was by her side.
“I was awakened by a curdling scream. Help me, somebody, please help me!” said a witness.
A Cornville couple, who wants to remain anonymous, initially thought they were dreaming until they heard sirens.
“Then a big truck coming down our street and it was a fire truck and an EMT," said the witness.
That's when they went outside.
“I just saw one of the neighbors holding and caressing this little girl trying to calm her," said the witness.
The 9-year-old girl was emotional after she witnessed her mother, Kaila Van Orden, overdose on heroin.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office says the girl and her mother went to a house on Tee Time Court. The girl found her mother in a bathroom holding a syringe.
Officials say that upset the girl, so she and her mother walked outside and got into their car. Moments later, Van Orden overdosed.
Her daughter was unable to wake her up, which caused the child to panic and scream for help, likely saving her mother's life.
Neighbors then called 911. First responders revived Van Orden. They then found meth, heroin and more syringes in her car. The child later told detectives this isn't the first time she's seen her mom "fall asleep" after using drugs.
“It’s terrible, first of all, that the daughter had to experience that and that it had to go down in a neighborhood like ours," said the witness.
Authorities arrested Van Orden on drug charges, but the investigation didn't stop there. Officials said they had been investigating the same home for months.
They obtained a search warrant and found meth and heroin, plus drug packaging and a scale. They arrested the couple who lives there, Adam Hale and Rachel Fools.
“It’s a gated community, a bunch of older retired people that live here. It shouldn’t be that way," said the witness.
Van Orden is behind bars. Her 9-year-old girl is now staying with family.
“Let's hope for the 9-year-old's sake that she's in the care of loving family now and doesn’t have to be put through this any longer," the witness said.
Investigators say Hale and Fools deny providing the heroin to Van Orden. They claimed they didn't know she injected heroin inside their home.