Las Vegas mother charged with murder in 1-year-old son’s fentanyl overdose death

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 1-year-old boy died after ingesting fentanyl, leading prosecutors to charge his mother with second-degree murder, documents said.

Kiera McCall, 31, faces the charge in the death of her son, Mathias McCall, documents said.

On June 6, 2023, paramedics responded to a residence near Lake Mead and Nellis boulevards for a report of an unresponsive child. Three days later, Mathias died at the hospital. The Clark County coroner’s office determined he died from the toxic effects of fentanyl, a spokesperson said. His manner of death was ruled accidental.

A witness told officers who responded to the initial call that McCall appeared “high” while paramedics tended to her son and that she said “the baby might have gotten into some heroin under the bed,” documents said.

In an interview with police, McCall said she uses marijuana and edibles but not in the house, documents said. She also denied having any drugs in the apartment but said she had used heroin before.

“When asked about any other narcotics, she stated her roommate uses heroin,” documents said. “Kiera stated she had previously found little pieces of heroin in the home and had swept them up while cleaning.” In an interview with police, the roommate denied using heroin.

After obtaining a search warrant, police searched the apartment, finding several items with suspected drug residue, a smoking pipe and other drug paraphernalia, documents said.

Police did not provide other information about how they believe the child got access to fentanyl, other than saying they suspect McCall was the only person who could have made it available to him, documents said.

A now-closed GoFundMe page indicates Machias’ organs went to help save other children’s lives.

Metro police arrested McCall on Wednesday, June 26, more than a year after her son’s death, records said. During McCall’s probable cause hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday, Judge Rebecca Saxe declined setting bail. McCall did not appear in court due to medical reasons for her scheduled initial appearance on Tuesday. The hearing was postponed until July 9.

In 2023, 302 people died from overdoses involving fentanyl in Clark County — a 28% increase from 2022.

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