Officials: 8-month-old dies after getting into parents’ ‘stash’; both parents arrested

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida couple was arrested after their 8-month-old daughter died last month in Sarasota County, authorities said.

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In a news release, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said that Nicholas Alexander and Carissa Alexander were arrested in connection to the death of their infant daughter on May 31.

The infant was placed in a playpen to sleep by her father, Nicholas Alexander, around midnight, according to WFLA. Between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., the infant’s mother, Carissa Alexander, claimed that she was up with the baby who was fussy and would not sleep.

Hours later, around 10 a.m., the baby was reportedly found in a “prone position” on a cushion from the couch, the news outlet reported. Investigators said no one inside the house could tell them how the baby got there but they thought she was sleeping.

Investigators determined that the baby was not checked on from 10:30 a.m. to around 4:45 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.

Later that same day, a friend of the family’s went over to the house near Interstate 75 and Bee Ridge Road and found that the baby was very cold. She told Nicholas Alexander who started CPR and called 911, according to WFLA.

The family friend and Nicholas Alexander took the baby to the hospital. While heading to the hospital Nicholas Alexander gave the baby Narcan because he thought she may have gotten into his “stash,” the news outlet reported.

Nicholas and Carissa Alexander were detained and investigators believed that both were impaired during questioning, the sheriff’s office said.

Carissa Alexander reportedly had a straw that had white residue on it, according to WFLA. The residue later tested positive for fentanyl, cocaine, oxycodone, and xylazine.

An autopsy was conducted on the infant hours after she died and had tested positive for “lethal amounts of fentanyl,” the sheriff’s office said.

Both Nicholas and Carissa Alexander were charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. The sheriff’s office said that both are being held without bond.