Pennsylvania: 5-Month-Old Baby Starves To Death After Both Parents Die Of Suspected Drug Overdose


In a tragic incident, a 5-month-old baby reportedly starved to death inside her home after both her parents died of a suspected drug overdose. According to The Daily Mail, the incident happened in the town of Kenville, located 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. The tragedy has resulted in the deaths of 27-year-old Jason Chambers, his 19-year-old girlfriend Chelsea Cardaro and their 5-month-old daughter Summer. The drug overdose tragedy came to light on Thursday, after neighbors did not notice any signs of life from the home for over a week. After local police were alerted, they reached the home on Thursday to find the bodies of the trio inside the home. According to Cambria County officials, the bodies of the family was discovered a week after their suspected deaths.

Meanwhile, the coroner who performed the autopsies on the bodies revealed that both the parents were dead for about a week when their bodies were recovered. He also confirmed the drug overdose possibility. The infant left alone inside the home died several days later, most likely of dehydration and starvation. It is now assumed that both Jason and Chelsea died minutes apart before either of them could call for help. The little baby was left helpless inside the home with nobody caring for her. Neighbors had initially assumed that the couple had gone away to visit their family for the holidays. Authorities, on entering the home on Thursday, discovered the body of Jason on the first floor. The body of his girlfriend, Chelsea was found inside a bathroom on the second floor of the home. The baby was found dead inside a bassinet on the second floor bedroom. At the time of publishing this report, toxicology tests on both the parents are pending. However, there is enough evidence to blame both their deaths on drug overdose.

According to District Attorney Kelly Callihan, the man and the woman both died within minutes of each other.

“We think that because, if not, one or the other would have called for help,” she said.

After neighbors were questioned, it was revealed that the family was last seen alive on December 11. When the family was not seen later, many assumed they had gone to New York to visit their friends. The couple was, until recently, been living in New York. Johnstown Police Captain, Chad Miller termed the incident “unfortunate.” In a statement to media outlets, he said this.

“It’s an unfortunate incident where they both possibly overdosed at the same time – and being from out of town, not having anybody in town – it was too long for anybody to notice that they were missing.”

He also added that emergency responders were called in to the home one one occasion back in November to treat a man following a drug overdose. After that incident, child welfare workers had visited the home to check on the baby and to ascertain whether the home was appropriate for a baby. Upon visiting, they deduced that the home was “appropriate” for the infant and that the infant was being well taken care of.

“They checked out the house, and it was appropriate to a child living there. There was plenty of food and the child seemed well taken care of.”

The news of this tragic drug overdose incident comes just days after a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that drug overdose deaths saw a 33 percent increase across the U.S. in the last five years. Several states saw the number of deaths increase by more than 200 percent. Last year alone, there were more than 52,000 deaths in the U.S. from suspected drug overdose, This is more than the number of people who died in car crashes or gun deaths.

[Featured Image by Fujikama/Pixabay]

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