A Lehigh County woman is charged in the death of her 2-month-old daughter, who died from asphyxiation while the two shared a bed late last year, according to authorities.
Katrina Pantuso, 35, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering child welfare and recklessly endangering another person in the Nov. 4 death of her child in their Coplay home, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in a news release.
Officers were called to the home in the 100 block of South Front Street that afternoon for a report of an infant not breathing. The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The county coroner’s office determined asphyxia was the cause of death, but was not able to determine the manner.
Pantuso told authorities she was co-sleeping with the child in her bed, despite being warned several times about the dangers of doing that, the DA’s office said. Additionally, authorities found a leafy substance in the room, police said. There also was a bassinette that Pantuso had been given so she would stop co-sleeping with her daughter, authorities said.
A forensic pathologist determined the girl’s cause of death was asphyxia, and noted that the combination of sleeping in an adult bed with pillows and blankets, with an adult under the influence of sedating medication, and in a face-down position, suggests that the death may have happened because of asphyxia and “overlay,” the DA’s office said.
Investigators searched Pantuso’s phone and found that she had used drugs the day of her daughter’s death, and she previously had fed her, fell asleep, and dropped her on the floor, according to officials. She had been warned several times about co-sleeping, authorities said.
Pantuso and her daughter went to bed about 11:30 a.m. that day, and the two were in the same position before falling asleep, according to court documents. She woke up two hours later, and her daughter was now behind her, authorities said. Police said she was not breathing and cold to the touch.
Pantuso told authorities she had taken methadone the day earlier, and was aware it makes her “very drowsy,” court documents state.
Pantuso was arraigned on the charges last week and sent to Lehigh County Jail on $100,000 bail.