SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — A Stanwood woman was charged July 10 with manslaughter after her young daughter died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022.
Morgan Bassett, 34, woke up on the morning of Jan. 14, 2022, to find her toddler, identified by initials in court documents, unresponsive. Authorities arrived at the "manufactured home" to find Bassett and her unresponsive baby as well as two other men.
The 18-month-old child had vomit on her face and shoulder, and she was eventually pronounced dead at the scene. Law enforcement officers found several blue pills in Bassett's bed, where the child slept with her mom.
During an initial interview, Bassett claimed she had been clean from drugs for 18 months, but later admitted to having used within the week before the child's death. Bassett eventually told police she smoked two to three "little blue pills" in the morning and two to three that night before the child died, court documents say.
She told police that she ran out of pills and awoke to find her child cold and not breathing.
A subsequent search warrant later that day painted a very different picture than what Bassett had told law enforcement.
Court documents said multiple blue pills with "M30" stamped on them were found in the bed. Investigators found small pieces of candy near the fentanyl-laced pills in the bed, highlighting the dangers for the child.
Further searching of Bassett's bedroom uncovered a plastic bag with what appeared to be methamphetamine and another baggie with "50 or more" of the same blue pills with the "M30" stamped on them. Along with quite a few pieces of drug paraphernalia, officers found two other pills that were found to be Schedule 2 controlled substances, per court documents.
One of the men who was in the home when officers arrived did a second interview with law enforcement and said he believed Bassett knew she was buying fentanyl pills.
The autopsy of the little girl found multiple solid blue fragments in her stomach contents and a "very high level of fentanyl" in her blood. A "low level" of amphetamine was also found in the girl's blood. The cause of death was ruled as acute fentanyl intoxication by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office.
The Washington State Patrol crime lab tested several of the pills found in Bassett's room, and three were identified as containing fentanyl.
Bassett is scheduled to be arraigned on July 25.
Snohomish County is not new to fentanyl overdoses involving young children. In April, crews responded to three different cases of babies ingesting fentanyl over a four-day period. Earlier that same month further north, Whatcom County issued an executive order to combat a rise in overdose deaths.