Methadone in boy’s body enough to kill adult, expert testifies in Wichita murder trial
An expert witness called by the prosecution to testify in the methadone murder trial of a Wichita mother told jurors Friday that there was enough of the drug in 2-year-old Zayden JayNesahkluah’s system to kill an adult who had no history of taking it or other opioids.
Blood drawn from Zayden’s heart that was tested after his May 31, 2019, death showed the powerful prescription narcotic concentrated at a rate of 0.50 milligrams per liter. Blood from his femoral vein that was tested had a concentration of 0.82 milligrams of methadone per liter.
“Those concentrations can cause death,” Timothy Rohrig, former head of the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center and an expert in forensic toxicology, told jurors from the witness stand.
Later he said: “In a child, this is a very significant concentration.”
Rohrig said that while methadone toxicity deaths in children are uncommon, in the few he’s worked or read about, death has occurred at concentrations of 0.10 to 0.50 milligrams per liter of blood.
The prescription bottles given to Zayden’s mother each contained 60 milligrams of methadone, about four times the amount that Rohrig testified would be lethal to a child of Zayden’s height and weight: 38 inches and 30 pounds.
A child of the same size prescribed methadone as a therapeutic would be given far less per dose — about 3 milligrams, or just a few drops, he said, offering a comparison. Infants born addicted to opioids due to maternal drug use may be given methadone to help ween them off, he explained.
In addition to causing death, methadone can have adverse reactions on non-users ranging from lethargy and stupor to violent illness, even in small doses, according to statements from several witnesses called to the stand over the past week Kimberly Compass has been on trial.
An ex-boyfriend of Compass’ who testified Friday, for example, described feeling “sick as a dog” and vomiting “for three days straight” after he tried a swig of Compass’s methadone one time she offered it.
Zachary Sepesi told jurors he immediately felt ill after swallowing it, saying: “I couldn’t even get off the floor.” He told jurors that like Compass, he had battled a drug addiction.
Although neither Rohrig nor another expert in forensic pathology called to the witness stand Friday could nail down exactly when Zayden swallowed the fatal dose of methadone, they did offer clues that helped narrow the time frame.
Timothy Gorrill, Sedgwick County’s coroner and chief medical examiner, said when Zayden’s body was examined during his autopsy, pathologists noted he had acute pneumonia, or inflammation, in his lungs as well as “blood-tinged foam” in his airways. Authorities didn’t know for sure that methadone caused Zayden’s death until months later, though, after they received toxicology results.
Gorrill estimated that it would have likely taken at least an hour for the pneumonia to develop after Zayden ingested the methadone and subsequently inhaled some of his own vomit after he threw up.
Calculations Rohrig ran to figure out when the methadone concentration in Zayden’s blood would have been at its peak put the time of ingestion maybe two to four hours before he died, Rohrig testified.
Neither could say, however, exactly what time Zayden died, how much methadone he swallowed or how long the drug had been in his system when it killed him.
They also couldn’t determine whether the boy drank it directly from his mother’s prescription jar — his DNA was found on the mouth of one container — or from a Coca-Cola can or bottle of fruit punch that also tested positive for the drug.
But Rohrig did say that a toxic amount of methadone doesn’t have to be ingested in a single dose; smaller amounts of the drug administered over time can accumulate in a person’s body, ultimately reaching a fatal level.
One prosecution theory that has emerged during the trial is the possibility that Compass gave Zayden multiple doses of methadone before he died because she had a hard time dealing with him.
Testifying as a witness for the defense, Compass’ ex-boyfriend, Sepesi, said when he last saw Zayden the night before he was found dead, the boy was “hyperactive,” “gobbled” down a cheeseburger, was “wiggling free” from his car seat and acted like “a typical 2-year-old.”
He told jurors Compass acted more aggressively toward Zayden than she did her daughter — and that he’d brought those concerns to the lead detective on the homicide case — but that he attributed the behavior to Compass being an “inexperienced” single mother.
Earlier in the week, Compass’ grandmother told jurors that Compass favored her daughter over her son and that she once saw Compass shove Zayden across her living room and call him names like “stupid,” “dumb” and “retarded.”
In a video-recorded interview with police that was played in court, however, Compass claimed that she would never hurt her child. She said then she thought he’d died from a medical condition tied to a fever-induced seizure he reportedly suffered around a month before.
Based on previous testimony from the friend of Compass’ that rented the motel room where Zayden died, at some point not long after Sepesi last reported seeing the boy, he started acting lethargic, fell asleep, snored too loudly for a toddler and couldn’t be easily awakened. That friend, Reginald “Reggie” Whiters, testified earlier in the week that he woke up in Room 19 of the Sunset Motel, 2328 S. Broadway, the next morning to find Zayden dead, lying in vomit that was the same bright pink as his mother’s methadone.
He told also told jurors the pencil box Compass was supposed to store her methadone in had a broken lock and that she’d brought it into the motel room instead of leaving it in her SUV. The addiction clinic Compass was getting her methadone from wouldn’t let her take doses of the drug home unless they were locked in a secure box, two employees testified previously.
Prosecutors allege Compass, who is charged with first-degree felony murder, is responsible for Zayden’s death because she acted recklessly with the methadone, knowing it was dangerous, could kill someone it wasn’t prescribed to and should be kept out of children’s reach.
Her defense lawyer, Steven Mank, contended in his opening statements earlier this week that Compass had no idea how Zayden got the methadone he ingested. On Friday, he called to the witness stand a former neighbor of Compass’ who claimed Whiters admitted to poisoning Zayden during a fight he had with Compass in her front yard shortly before her Aug. 15, 2019, arrest.
The prosecution swiftly challenged the legitimacy of Christina Eastman’s story, however, pointing out that neither she nor Compass ever mentioned the alleged confession to the Wichita police detective investigating the case and that the detective had checked out a Crime Stoppers tip suggesting Whiters was responsible.
Both the state and the defense rested their cases Friday, meaning there will be no more evidence or witness testimony presented to the jury.
When jurors return to the Sedgwick County Courthouse at 9 a.m on Monday, they will receive jury instructions, hear closing arguments from attorneys then begin their deliberations.
In the meantime, Compass remains in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond. Judge Kevin O’Connor is presiding over her trial.
