Mother to face judge following methadone death of 3-year-old

According to investigators, 24-year-old Jessica Jean York's son died of methadone intoxication.

The child's death was ruled a homicide.

York was arrested on Tuesday.

According to the arrest warrant, emergency crews were called on April 22 just before 11 a.m. to the home on Old Birch Road in Stafford.

The caller, who was identified as "Jessica," reported that she put her son to sleep the night before and when she went to go check on him the next morning, she found him not breathing. She said she saw vomit in the child's mouth.

When emergency personnel arrived, they pronounced the child dead at the scene.

State troopers said they observed the home to be in deplorable condition. Garbage was described as being all over the place. Animal feces and urine looked to be in the kitchen.

York allowed troopers to search her cell phone.

State police said they found a text from someone named Summer that read "I got some extra methadone for $20 if you need it."

Troopers called York a known heroin user. Dispatchers received calls about her drug activity in the past. However, she had no criminal history.

They said they found wax envelopes in York's bedroom that were heroin packs labeled "Chosen Few."

Her boyfriend also told investigators that York has had drug issues in the past.

York later admitted to troopers that she was a heroin addict and relapsed the year before the incident. She also said that she has used methadone, to which she does not have a prescription.

State forensics scientists confirmed that methadone, among other things, was in York's blood at that time.

York's boyfriend told investigators that she would get liquid methadone at least once a week. He would see the bottle on her nightstand.

However, he could not verify if the bottle was on the nightstand when York's son died.

Investigators found that the methadone that "Summer" would get came from another man.

York said she would use the methadone, then throw out the containers.

The man told investigators that he sold his methadone, which he purchased from a clinic, to help other people get "clean" from heroin.

Investigators said they also found another text on York's phone to her boyfriend the day before her son's death that read "my methadone is gone."

In August, a final autopsy and toxicology report was completed in which the cause of death was certified as "acute methadone intoxication."

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner noted that methadone was in the boy's blood and gastric fluid.

York was charged with second-degree manslaughter, risk of injury to a child and first-degree reckless endangerment.

She is being held on a $500,000 bond.

York is due in Rockville Superior Court.