St. Paul woman changes manslaughter plea to guilty in 7-year-old daughter's fentanyl death
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A St. Paul mother who previously pleaded not guilty to felony charges after her 7-year-old daughter died of a fentanyl overdose has changed her plea.
Shauntaija Jannell Travis entered an amended guilty plea to a charge of second-degree manslaughter on Friday, according to court records. She originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of that crime in July.
Travis' daughter died in the living room of a residence on the 800 block of Sherburne Avenue last March, according to a criminal complaint.
The medical examiner later determined the girl's cause of death was fentanyl toxicity and the manner of death was accidental.
Officers searching Travis' bedroom found a straw with "white residue," the complaint said, along with a pill that was later found to contain fentanyl.
When authorities asked Travis what the chances are her daughter got into her drugs, she said "seventy-five," according to the complaint.
The girl died amid a child custody dispute within the family.
Travis is set to be sentenced March 22.