LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — Six people were indicted last week in connection with the death of a 7-week-old baby girl in Lincoln County earlier this year.
Police said Ty'Ann Curtner was exposed to an excessive amount of drugs back in August. On the morning of Aug. 19, police found the infant dead inside her father's home in an unincorporated township just north of Troy, Missouri.
Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood announced felony charges of murder and child endangerment resulting in death against Shawna Walton, Selena Rodriguez, Gabriel Clark, Dillon Clark, Evan Hausermann, and Adam Hausermann in connection with Ty'Ann's death.
"It's an extremely tragic incident," Wood said.
Though she had multiple injuries from physical abuse, authorities said the 49-day-old girl's main cause of death was from exposure to lethal amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
"We did discover that there had been some broken bones, some brain bleeds which had initially led us towards some type of abuse," Wood said.
"The injuries were not acute, which means they didn't just immediately happen; they were in various stages of healing. There were several injuries, there were traumatic injuries to the baby, but the main cause of death was the methamphetamine intoxication," said Dan Heavin, the Lincoln County Coroner.
Wood said Curtner's parents, Rodriguez and Gabriel Clark, also face child physical abuse charges for their daughter's physical injuries.
Shawna Walton is the girl's grandmother, and Dillon Clark is the girl's uncle. Evan Hausermann and Adam Hausermann were the father's two roommates. Everyone lived in the home besides Rodriguez.
"When the mother turned the child over to the biological father for him to exercise custody, she knew that there was drug use in the home. Our position is that any amount of drug use in front of the children, especially fentanyl, would create a dangerous situation, would put the child's life at risk," Wood said.
Wood added that the amount of fentanyl found in the home where Curtner lived and died was excessive.
"The amount of fentanyl that we found in the house was quite disturbing. It was in every room in the home. It wasn't as if anything was being hidden or placed in a position where it wouldn't be exposed to the baby," he said.
It's not clear how drugs got into the infant's system, but Lincoln County Coroner Dan Heavin said the home was part of a drug operation. He believes Curtner was dead for hours before police were called.
"The drugs that had been present had been in there for at least 24 hours. It could have gotten on the baby's pacifier, in the bottle, anything, and they would have never suspected it because it was everywhere," Heavin said.
Officials said five of the six suspects were taken into custody Wednesday morning with the help of the St. Louis County Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service, but Adam Hausermann remains at large.
"It was nice to see the start of justice for Ty'Ann," said Heavin.
"It's an extremely tragic incident, and I can tell you that it hit home very hard, especially with everybody associated with the case," Wood said. "Because of that, this is entirely preventable. We want to send the message that we will treat these as seriously as we possibly can and pursue the most aggressive charges possible. This could be stopped, it could be prevented, and it's entirely unacceptable. I do have to commend everybody who did such a thorough job in working this case to help us get to the point that we're at today."
Anyone with information on where Adam Hausermann might be is asked to contact the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.
The other five suspects are being held in jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
All six suspects face the charges of class A felonies, carrying a sentence of 10 years or life in prison.
Recent reports from the Missouri Department of Social Services show infant deaths due to fentanyl are up 500%.
According to the release, the case was investigated by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Missouri State Technical Assistance Team and Missouri Children's Division. The findings were then presented to a Lincoln County grand jury on Dec. 13.
"The lethality of fentanyl cannot be overstated," Wood said in a Facebook post. "The Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney‘s Office will be moving forward with a zero-tolerance policy for drug use around children."