(KAIR)--A 35-year-old Leavenworth man has been convicted in connection with the fentanyl-related death of a 3-year-old boy.
According to a release from the Office of Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson, Kenneth Hedgecock pleaded no contest Monday to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangering a child, and was found guilty on both counts.
The convictions are tied to the March 26, 2025 death of a 3-year-old child who was in the care of Hedgecock and 40-year-old Tara Huerta at the time. Prosecutors say 30-year-old Briana R.M. Davis is the child’s mother. All three defendants in the case have now been convicted.
According to court documents, a Leavenworth Police Department officer was dispatched in the early morning hours to an apartment near Limit Street and Martin Luther King Drive for a first-aid assist. Officers arrived to find the child on the living room floor as emergency responders performed chest compressions. The child was taken by paramedics to a Leavenworth hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Court documents say Huerta told investigators Davis had been at the apartment on March 25 and left the child in their care, and that the child had been sleeping on the couch. Huerta and Hedgecock also admitted to using drugs while the child was inside the apartment. Investigators say the two called 911 after realizing the child was no longer breathing.
Multiple items of evidence collected from the apartment were submitted to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory for testing. Court documents say swabs taken from the couch tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, and additional items recovered from the area of the couch also tested positive for controlled substances, including fentanyl.
An autopsy determined the cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity.
Hedgecock is scheduled for sentencing April 1 in Leavenworth County District Court. Davis is scheduled for sentencing March 11 on charges of abandonment of a child, aggravated battery, and endangering a child, while Huerta is scheduled for sentencing March 27 on convictions of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated endangering a child.
