WAUSAU − A 26-year-old Wausau woman was charged June 2 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter.
Jessica L. Pagenkopf faces a charge of being a party to the crime of child neglect resulting in death. Marathon County Circuit Judge LaMont Jacobson set a $50,000 signature bond for Pagenkopf with the condition she maintain absolute sobriety and not have any contact with anyone under the age of 18 or contact with the homes of anyone under the age of 18.
Pagenkopf’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 11.
According to the criminal complaint, at 5:34 a.m. April 2, officers responded to a report of a 2-year-old child who was not breathing and didn’t have a pulse. When officers got there, the residents took the officers to a bedroom where the toddler was lying on a bed. The girl was purple and cold.
The officers started CPR, but stopped because they believed it was too late. When Wausau Fire Department EMS arrived, they resumed CPR but also stopped.
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Pagenkopf said she lived in the home with another woman and the woman’s boyfriend, along with the other woman’s four children, according to the complaint. Pagenkopf had been gone most of April 1 when a friend took her to the dentist. Pagenkopf left her daughter with her roommate when she went to the dentist.
The evening of April 1, Pagenkopf was watching all of the children, according to the complaint. She had a video call with her roommate during the evening and thought one of the children and her daughter may have gone into the bedroom Pagenkopf’s two roommates shared to try and find a video game that had been taken away from the older child as punishment.
Pagenkopf said her daughter had acted normal the night of April 1. She ate her dinner. The child slept in the same bed as Pagenkopf in a basement bedroom. Pagenkopf told officers her daughter went to sleep right away when she took her to bed, which was unusual. Pagenkopf said she thought the young girl was all right because she was snoring, although she said the child’s breathing sounded strange, according to the complaint.
When Pagenkopf’s roommates got home, they noticed their bedroom door was open and the light on. The children weren’t suppose to go into the bedroom without permission. The three adults got into an argument when the two roommates said Pagenkopf wasn’t watching the children properly, according to the complaint.
Pagenkopf said she went to bed with her daughter and fell asleep after the argument. She said she woke up between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. April 2 and found her daughter was not breathing and cold to the touch, according to the complaint.
Pagenkopf said she carried her daughter up to the roommates’ bedroom to get help, and they called 911, according to the complaint.
Police found an open bottle of prescription oxycodone in the roommates’ bedroom and the bottle cap on the floor. The man said he thought there had been seven or eight pills left in the bottle, but it was empty, according to the complaint. Officers found six oxycodone pills on the floor and in the bedding on the floor when they searched the bedroom, according to the complaint.
The final autopsy report stated the 2-year-old girl died from the oxycodone.
If convicted, Pagenkopf faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and 10 years extended supervision.
Contact Karen Madden [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Wausau woman charged in 2-year-old daughter’s overdose death
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