A mother and boyfriend have been arrested after her 3-year-old daughter died from an overdose of methamphetamine and a drug used in the treatment of opioid addiction. Police are claiming the pair might have left drug paraphernalia lying around, allowing little Logan Starliper access to them.
Penn Live is reporting that Brittany Higgins and Brian Bennett, both age 29, told investigators that they put Logan to bed at 10:30 p.m. January 5. Bennett said he checked on her 12 hours later and believed she was still sleeping.
Unbelievably, it was 9 p.m. on January 6 that the Pennsylvania couple ventured to finally enter Logan’s bedroom and see if she was alright.
That was 22 hours after she had been put to bed.
It was then Higgins and Brian discovered that she was dead and called the police.
The pair was charged with child endangerment, involuntary manslaughter, third-degree murder, drug delivery resulting in death as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.
A third man, Rodney Mower was charged with drug delivery and purportedly providing Bennett and Higgins with meth, which they used on January 4 and 5.
According to USA Today , Logan died from an overdose of methamphetamine and buprenorphine, a medication used to fight opioid addiction, on January 6. Her autopsy and toxicology testing concluded that cause of death was “mixed substance toxicity.”
State police say Logan Starliper died at a home in Greencastle January 6 from a mix of methamphetamine and buprenorphine, an opioid medication used to treat addiction. https://t.co/aFeko0B18R
— WKRG (@WKRG) March 25, 2018
Court documents seen by the Daily Mail disclosed that Bennett had a prescription for Subutex, while Higgins had a prescription for Suboxone—both drugs have buprenorphine as a main component .
Authorities have not revealed how the drugs got into the little girl’s system, but Mower said Logan and her sister often watched their mother and Bennett doing drugs.
Higgins admitted to police that she and her boyfriend stashed drugs at their Greencastle residence. In her self-acclaimed defense, the 29-year-old woman said she kept her meth in a bag on the top shelf, where her kids could not reach it and locked the Suboxone in a safe.
Bennett said he always had his drugs on him so that he could use it whenever he wanted. However, he owned up that he left the Subutex (buprenorphine) on a stand next to the bed.
Rodney Mower told investigators that the couple always prepared and used meth in the bedroom and set up a “baby gate” to keep the kids out. However, he said it was highly likely that Logan had stumbled on drug paraphernalia and fatally used it.
Logan Starliper was left in her room for 22.5 hours while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend injected meth. https://t.co/6qOwNFt8A8
— Democrat & Chronicle (@DandC) March 25, 2018
The autopsy on Logan also showed that the child had been neglected with “discoloration” around her mouth, cheeks, and eyes. Friends and family members also confirmed seeing “bruises and large marks” on the 3-year-old girl.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Brent Miller, speaking to reporters, disclosed that the exact details of Logan’s death were yet to be confirmed, but that it was established that she died because there were drugs where she lived.
“All I know is the facts, and those facts state that a child is dead due to drugs that were in the house.”
