By Kathy Lynn Gray and Maria DeVito
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police have opened investigations into the deaths of two toddlers who died of drug overdoses in separate incidents.
Franklin County Coroner Anahi Ortiz said on Thursday that 11-month-old Dominic Dickinson and 14-month-old Annabella Sagstetter both died from acute intoxication of heroin mixed with fentanyl.
Both children died in May, but the deaths aren’t related, officials said.
How the children died, whether by accident or homicide, could not be determined by the autopsies or toxicology tests, Ortiz said.
The incident involving Dominic occurred on May 13 at the home on Blaine Drive where the baby’s father, Kyle Black, lives. The house is near the intersection of Country Club Drive and E. Livingston Avenue on the East Side.
The 911 call reported that the baby was not breathing and had turned purple.
Kenneth Black, grandfather of the boy, also lives at the Blaine Drive residence. He said he was asleep that day when he was awakened by paramedics coming into the house. He said the death of his grandson was a terrible loss and declined to comment further.
Dominic’s mother is Denise Dickinson, records show.
Sgt. David Sicilian, who is investigating Dominic’s death, said police found the toddler in a playpen surrounded by blankets. Authorities initially thought the child might have died of SIDS.
Police found drug paraphernalia in the East Side home, “but of course at that point we weren’t sure it was related to the baby’s death,” Sicilian said.
“The toxicology reports shed a whole different light on things now,” he said.
The death of Annabella Sagstetter occurred on May 27.
Columbus Fire paramedics responded to the 100 block of Columbian Avenue on the West Side.
In that case, adults in a car traveling on Columbian had called for help, saying a baby girl in the car was not breathing. A man asked for paramedics to “please hurry.”
Annabella was the daughter of Chris Sagstetter and Erica Barley of the Far West Side. It wasn’t clear from the 911 call whether they were in the car with the child. Family members couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday.
Homicide Sgt. Christ Holzhauser said police were alerted this week by the coroner’s office that the children’s deaths were related to drugs. His second-shift detectives are investigating the death of Annabella.
At this time, there have been no arrests in the children’s deaths.
Dispatch Reporters Henri Gendreau and Jim Woods contributed to this story.
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