Missouri Mother Sentenced to 17 Years in Toddler’s Death

A drug-using Missouri mother whose toddler died of an overdose after he nursed has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Lacey Kertz was charged in the death of her 22-month-old son Carson Swyres seven months after his October 2013 death in House Springs. Kertz told police she had taken Vicodin, morphine and Xanax pills and used methamphetamine in the hours before she nursed her son and had given him an herbal supplement to help him sleep. She also told police she might have given Carson a children's Tylenol as well, but she couldn't remember.

She pleaded guilty earlier this month in Jefferson County Circuit Court to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment.