Parents of 5-year-old Ferndale girl who died after ingesting fentanyl plead guilty

The parents of a Ferndale 5-year-old who died in March 2023 after ingesting fentanyl have pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges.

Michael Wayne Doane, 34, pleaded guilty Thursday, July 25, in Whatcom County Superior Court to one count of second-degree manslaughter for the March 8, 2023, overdose death of his 5-year-old daughter, Olivia R. Doane.

Ferndale police responded shortly after 9:15 a.m. on March 8, 2023, to a home in the 2300 block of Douglas Road for a death investigation of a 5-year-old girl.

Police were told the girl’s biological mother, 36-year-old Melissa Ann Welch, of Ferndale, called 911 to report her daughter was dead.

When police arrived at the home, they found the 5-year-old girl dead in her bed in her bedroom. Due to foam in the child’s mouth, police suspected a possible drug overdose or poisoning.

Doane, Welch and Welch’s boyfriend, 33-year-old Cody Curtis Craig, of Bellingham, were all present at the home the night the child died and the following day when police arrived. Welch’s 8-year-old daughter was also present, according to court records.

Ferndale police and Child Protective Services have since relocated the 8-year-old sibling, who is living with other family members, court records show.

Drug paraphernalia, including a butane lighter and foils, and suspected narcotics were found in multiple locations during a search of the Douglas Road residence. The items tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine and methadone, and were found in areas accessible to both the 5-year-old and 8-year-old, court records state.

Fentanyl powder was also found on the floor of the garage next to children’s toys and candy. Fentanyl residue was found throughout the home, including in the 5-year-old’s bedroom, court documents show.

Prosecutors allege that an investigation into the 5-year-old’s death revealed that Doane operated the Douglas Road residence as a drug house where controlled substances were “frequently and routinely” left out and available to children, including the deceased girl and her 8-year-old sister, the documents state.

Other children who had visited the home in the weeks prior to the 5-year-old girl’s death told investigators they saw a jar sitting out in the open filled with drugs. The children were allegedly warned by adults present in the home not to touch their “medication,” court records state.

Both the 5-year-old and her 8-year-old sister allegedly lived at the Douglas Road residence with Doane, while Welch and Craig would visit, cook, clean and sometimes stay at the home.

Doane would allegedly sell drugs from the home, while also allowing people to use drugs throughout the residence, court documents state.

Security camera footage showed the 5-year-old girl was “happy and healthy” on March 7, 2023, which led police to believe the child consumed fentanyl sometime during the night, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

Text messages retrieved from Doane’s cellphone show he delivered drugs to his mother at the same time he and the 5-year-old girl attended a family dinner on March 7, 2023, court documents state.

The Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office ultimately determined the child died from acute fentanyl intoxication , and ruled in early May 2023 that her manner of death was undetermined.

“Undetermined” is used as a classification when the information pointing toward a manner of death is no more compelling than any others, such as homicide, accidental or suicide, Deborah Hollis, chief investigator and operations manager with the county medical examiner’s office, previously told The Herald.

Prosecutors originally charged Doane, Welch and Craig with one count each of first-degree murder April 7, 2023, for their alleged roles in the child’s death .

Each were charged under the first-degree murder prong that stated they acted “under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life.” Each of their murder charges included an aggravating factor that stated Welch, Doane and Craig knew or should have known that the child was particularly vulnerable , according to court records.

All three have all been incarcerated in the downtown Whatcom County Jail since their respective arrests in mid-April 2023. Bail was originally set at $1 million each, but court records show Doane’s was reduced to $500,000 in early June 2023.

Welch and Craig were also charged in separate cases following the 5-year-old’s death , in which they were both accused of continuing to sell narcotics five days after the child’s death. Craig is accused of being connected to a large-scale drug trafficker, while Welch is alleged to have been the contact person and provided a location for one of the drug deliveries, The Herald previously reported.

Prosecutors also filed an additional charge July 8 of this year of first-degree manslaughter against Doane, court documents show.

Doane’s murder and manslaughter charges were reduced July 25 to a single count of second-degree manslaughter, which he pleaded guilty to the same day, as part of an agreed plea deal between the prosecuting and defense attorneys.

He is expected to be sentenced Monday, July 29. Prosecutors are expected to recommend a sentence of four years in prison, with 1.5 years probation.

Welch pleaded guilty roughly two weeks earlier, on July 11, for her role in her daughter’s death. She pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree manslaughter as part of an agreed deal between the prosecuting and defense attorneys. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss Welch’s drug-trafficking case and lower her charges in the murder case in exchange for her guilty plea and her testimony at trial against Doane, court records state.

She is expected to be sentenced Thursday, Aug. 15. Prosecutors are expected to recommend an agreed-upon sentence of three years, four months in prison, with 1.5 years of probation, court records show.

Craig is expected to enter guilty pleas in his drug-trafficking case on Thursday, Aug. 1, in exchange for the dismissal of his murder case, prosecutors announced in court Thursday.

All three of their guilty pleas come just days before their cases were expected to head to trial. A joint jury trial for all three had originally been scheduled to begin July 15 but was pushed following Welch’s guilty plea days earlier. Craig and Doane were expected to head to trial on Monday, July 29.

All three will remain incarcerated until their respective sentencing hearings.