Starke police: Parents charged after autopsy reveals child died of fentanyl overdose in August

STARKE, Fla. — Action News Jax’s Ryan Nelson is talking to investigators about the girl’s death. See his LIVE report on FOX30 Action News Jax at 10 p.m.

The Starke Police Department says a newly released autopsy report revealed a three-year-old girl died of a fentanyl overdose in late August.

The girl’s parents, D’lana A. King and J’Shawn D. Murrah, were arrested Friday on aggravated child neglect charges. King and Murrah are each being held on $1 million bond.

Police say officers responded to a call of an unresponsive three-year-old at the Orangewood Apartment complex on South Water Street on August 26th.

There, police say they found the girl without a pulse, and began lifesaving efforts until the Starke Fire Department and Bradford County Fire arrived.

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Investigators say first responders took the girl to the North Florida Starke Emergency Room, where she was pronounced dead.

Police say detectives then began a suspicious death investigation.

Investigators say they did not spot an obvious cause of death, and the body was taken to the District 8 Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy.

Starke police tell Action News Jax they received the results of the autopsy on Thursday, December 3rd, and showed the child died of a fentanyl overdose.

Police say King and Murrah were the only people in the home when the child ingested the fentanyl.

King was arrested by Starke police and booked into the Bradford County jail.

Murrah was arrested by Alachua County deputies in Gainesville and booked in the Alachua County jail.

Starke police say he will be extradited to Bradford county.

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