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Murder charges filed in toddlers fentanyl death
A first-of-its-kind criminal case began working its way through the legal system in the South Bay. The two housemates of parents charged in the fentanyl death of their daughter have also now been charged with murder.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday announced prosecutors charged two alleged drug dealers with murder for their part in the fentanyl overdose death of 18-month-old Winter Doe.
The charges come five months after Winter’s parents, Derek Vaughn Rayo and Kelly Gene Richardson, became the first in Santa Clara County’s history to be charged with murdering their own child with drugs.
Phillip Ortega appears in Santa Clara County Superior Court on April 17, 2024 to face charges of murder for allegedly supplying drugs that led to the fatal overdose of a baby of his customers. (KTVU FOX 2)
Prosecutors allege Phillip Ortega, 31, of Gilroy, and Paige Vitale, 32, of San Jose, provided Winter’s parents with a "steady supply of opioids and shared the drugs, while the baby girl wandered inside the drug-littered San Jose residence."
In November 2023, Rayo was supposed to be arraigned but refused to come out of his cell. Richardson had not been located back then.
Evidence shows that the pair left opioids and dirty drug paraphernalia in the open around the house where the baby could find them, prosecutors said. Evidence also showed that the two defendants consistently supplied Rayo and Richardson with fentanyl and methamphetamine.
In a statement, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said: "The fatal irresponsibility of the people around Baby Winter is shocking – and it is criminal. We will hold accountable anyone whose recklessness ended the life of that poor little girl."
On August 12, 2023, Rayo and Richardson waited more than 12 hours before calling 911 to report that their daughter was dead. Winter had 15 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her blood when she died.
Investigators found photographs and videos showing all four of the suspects using drugs in the same room as the child, officials said.