Maryland mother sentenced to prison in infant's fentanyl death
Heather Marie Frazier, 36.
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. - A Frederick County woman has been sentence to prison related to her infant's fentanyl caused death in 2020.
Heather Marie Frazier, 36, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but five of those years suspended in Frederick County Circuit Court on Thursday. After her five years in prison, Frazier will have to complete five years of supervised probation.
Frazier was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2020 death of her 2-month-old son, Grayson Frazier.
Investigators say on July 3, 2020, deputies and detectives responded to the area of Walden Way, in Mount Airy, Maryland for an infant in cardiac arrest. Medical personnel transported the infant to Frederick Health Hospital, where physicians pronounced him dead a short time later.
After the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a full autopsy of Grayson, they determined the cause of death as Narcotic (Fentanyl) Intoxication and ruled the manner of death as a homicide.
After months of investigation, interviews with family members, and decisive detective work, FCSO detectives determined that Grayson’s parents, Jeremy Whitney Frazier, 35, and Heather Marie Frazier, age 34, both of Mount Airy, were the suspects in the case.
PHOTOS: Frederick County Sheriff's Office
According to investigators, the couple lived in a basement apartment on Walden Way and had been mixing fentanyl in the same bathroom where they prepared bottles for their infant son.
"This is a tragic case where drug addiction has destroyed a precious young life and the parents are faced with the consequences of their reckless actions," said State’s Attorney Charlie Smith about the case.
The infant's father, Jeremy Whitney Frazier, was also charged in the case. He pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge in March, and was sentenced to five years in prison with give years of supervised probation to follow.