What to Know
- Police say they've arrested the mother of 1-year-old Bianca Abdul, who died in March 2017 of opioid overdose
- Abdul was known to the city's Administration for Children's Services amid allegations of drug abuse and violence
- The Staten Island girl had medication in her system that was prescribed to her mother
Police have arrested the mother of a 14-month-old Staten Island girl who overdosed on opioids last year after sources say investigators determined that the baby had medication in her system that belonged to her mother.
Leila Wade, 39, has been arrested of charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment, according to the NYPD. Attorney information for her wasn't immediately clear.
Her 1-year-old daughter, Bianca Abdul, died on March 20, 2017, after her aunt found her unconscious and unresponsive inside her crib at home. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Medical examiners later found she died from a toxic cocktail of morphine and the anti-anxiety drug Valium. Police began investigating the toddler's death as a homicide in January 2018 before arresting Wade on Monday.
Sources say Bianca had medication in her body that was prescribed to her mother. It's not known how the child had ingested the medication.
The I-Team previously reported that Abdul was on the city Administration for Children's Service's radar before her fatal overdose. According to sources familiar with the case, at least three complaints about about child abuse were filed between 2015 and 2016. The sources said a 12-year-old was removed from the home in the past, but later returned.
A recent study by the city found that opioids are among the leading cause of poisoning deaths in children under age 9.
Local
The city Health Department confirmed 11 accidental overdose deaths in children in their last three years of data from 2014 to 2016.
In 2014, there were 19 drug-related emergency visits involving children, according to the city's Health Department. In 2015, that number dropped to 12, but then jumped up to 22 in 2016. Figures for 2017 weren't immediately available.
