Mom Of Girl Who Died In Auburn Foster Care Dies Of Suspected Overdose
WORCESTER (CBS/AP) — Authorities in Massachusetts say the mother of a 2-year-old girl who died in foster care last month has died of a suspected drug overdose.
Police say officers were called to a Worcester apartment around 3 p.m. Wednesday for an unresponsive female inside.
She was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.
The woman was identified as 27-year-old Jessica Conway, the mother of Avalena Conway-Coxon.
Conway-Coxon died after she was discovered unresponsive at an apartment complex in Auburn on Aug. 15.
Authorities haven't released a cause of death for the child.
Jessica Conway's father says the harsh words and criticism she faced online may have put her over the edge.
"My daughter couldn't take it anymore," David Coxon said. "She made one stinking mistake that stuck with her the rest of her life."
It was Conway's decade long addiction that landed her little girl Ava in foster care.
As the story unfolded, the social media assault on Conway was merciless.
Things like, "she chose drugs over her child."
She "Failed to be a parent."
And that she "had no one to blame but herself."
"My daughter was a good girl and was trying," Coxon said. "And I personally don't give a damn what you say."
But it tortured Conway, who got some prescription sleeping pills from a doctor, got in a fight and got bounced from the rehab program she'd entered to get Ava back.
"The baby could have lived with her and everything would have been hunky-dory," Coxon said.
Coxon says that prompted her to seek refuge with old friends, many of them heroin addicts. She fatally overdose in an apartment in Worcester despite attempts to save her with Narcan.
The exact cause of death is pending until the completion of an autopsy and toxicology tests.
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)