Girl, 14, dead 'after mum gave her super strength fentanyl dose to treat her toothache'

Jacquelyn Powers has been accused of giving her 14-year-old daughter a pill containing the highly lethal opioid drug, fentanyl, said to be 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine

A 14-year-old girl has died with her mum accused of poisoning her with fentanyl she administered to help with a toothache.

Jacquelyn Powers has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, resulting in the death of a child, according to prosecutors in St Louis, Missouri. The youngster had complained that she was suffering with a painful toothache on October 3, prompting the mother to attempt to treat it with Tylenol. After the medication didn't work, she is said to have given the child a pill she found in her drawer. Ten hours later, the teen girl was found dead.

According to the Overland Police Department, the mother thought she'd given the child oxycodone which she had after undergoing surgery previously, Fox 2 Now reports. A pathologist discovered that the girl had died as a result of a fentanyl overdose, testing negative for oxycodone.

After being taken into custody, Powers is said to have told cops she had traded her oxycodone with her mum so she could "protect" herself from the street pills she'd been buying.

Powers “admitted to giving the victim what she believed to be a prescription pain pill and other street drugs were located inside the home with other minor children,” a warrant from the 21st Judicial Circuit Court in St. Louis County read. Overland Police Department Captain Jim Morgan described the death as "tragic", adding "this shouldn't happen".

On Friday, the mother was seen being arrested and escorted from her home in handcuffs, and is now being held on $150,000 (£118,000) bond in jail. The charge she is being held on is considered a Class A felony, which is the most severe charge in the statute. If found guilty, the mother could face a life sentence.

In August, a baby died of a fentanyl overdose after being left with a dummy coated in the extremely potent killer drug. Her mother stands accused of lacing the dummy, with both parents also accused of managing a dogfighting operation.

The appalling incident saw 39-year-old Sara Constance Shakeri-Taylor charged with homicide by child abuse and multiple counts related to animal fighting, according to Charleston County Sheriff's Office statements. The little girl was just 10 months old when she succumbed to the drug.

The harrowing events came to light in May when authorities were alerted to an unresponsive baby in Ladson, an area spread across three South Carolina counties roughly 20 miles northwest from Charleston, in the US. Upon receiving the distressing call about the infant, deputies headed rapidly to their home.

There the child's dad, Sandy Gathers, aged 41, returned from his job around 3pm, May 15, to find his daughter lifeless "lying on her stomach" at the edge of the bed while Shakeri-Taylor was asleep.