PLYMOUTH, Ind. — An infant in northern Indiana has died after detectives say she overdosed on methamphetamine that was likely ingested from her mother's breast milk.
According to court documents, Ashlee Rans, 36, called 911 on December 19, 2019 and said she had rolled over onto her 2 -month-old, Nevaeh, while she was sleeping.
After a full autopsy and toxicology report was received by the coroner's office in January 2020, Nevaeh's death was determined to be a homicide. The official report showed the infant had died from acute methamphetamine intoxication. The toxicology report shows that at the time of her death, the baby had both amphetamine and methamphetamine in her system.
According to court documents officially filed against Rans on January 15, she initially only admitted to smoking marijuana. After Nevaeh's autopsy results came back, she admitted to detectives that she had also been using methamphetamine and knew that the drug could be dangerous to her child while breastfeeding. She claimed that she had purchased meth at a gas station two days before Nevaeh's death.
Rans said the first time she used meth after giving birth was about two weeks before Nevaeh's death, according to court documents. And she said she did not use drugs during pregnancy.
Rans is now charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death. She faces between 20 and 40 years in prison if convicted.
This story was originally published by Katie Cox at WRTV.
