Dorchester Woman Charged With Manslaughter in Fentanyl Death of 4-Year-Old on Fuller Street

Boston police have arrested a 35-year-old Dorchester woman on a manslaughter charge in the August death of a 4-year-old girl that a medical examiner attributed to fentanyl, the department announced Sunday.

Members of the Boston Police Fugitive Unit arrested Dayanna Familia at about 10:25 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, in the area of 17 Eastbrook Road in Dedham, according to the department's release. She was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant issued out of Dorchester District Court on charges of manslaughter, possession of Class A drugs, destruction of evidence, and intentionally misleading an investigator in a criminal investigation, police said. The charges are allegations, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Universal Hub reported Sunday that the girl was Familia's daughter and that police obtained the arrest warrant on Oct. 16, citing court records. It reported that Familia was scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

The case dates to the night of Monday, Aug. 17. At about 8:51 p.m., officers assigned to District B-3 in Mattapan responded to a radio call for an unknown problem in the area of 200 Fuller St. in Dorchester, according to the police release. When they arrived, officers found the 4-year-old unresponsive and began CPR. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Universal Hub reported that officers, Boston EMTs and paramedics found the girl in cardiac arrest in the family's apartment near Milton Avenue, and that she was taken to Children's Hospital. Boston Uncut is not naming the child.

An autopsy found that the girl died of "acute fentanyl intoxication," according to the department. The department said its Homicide Unit is "actively investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident." A search of the department's news site found no release about the death before Sunday's announcement of the arrest, more than two months later.

The police release does not say how investigators believe the child came into contact with fentanyl, what evidence the destruction-of-evidence charge refers to, or what statements are at issue in the charge of misleading an investigator.

The punishment for manslaughter in Massachusetts is set by Chapter 265, Section 13 of the General Laws. The statute provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in state prison, or a fine of up to $1,000 and up to two and a half years in a jail or house of correction. The charge of intentionally misleading an investigator falls under Chapter 268, Section 13B of the General Laws.

National research shows such deaths among young children rose sharply before this case. A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2023, which analyzed federal mortality data, found that fentanyl was involved in 5,194 of 13,861 fatal opioid poisonings of people under 20 in the United States from 1999 through 2021. Among children ages 0 to 4, the fentanyl death rate rose 590 percent from 2018 to 2021, from 0.10 to 0.69 per 100,000, according to the study. In 2021 alone, fentanyl was responsible for the deaths of 40 infants and 93 children ages 1 to 4, the authors reported.

The same study found that, across all ages, 43.8 percent of the pediatric fentanyl deaths occurred at home and 87.5 percent were classified as unintentional. A separate analysis of child-death-review data from 40 states, published in Pediatrics in 2023, found that opioids were the most common substances contributing to fatal poisonings among children 5 and younger from 2005 to 2018, contributing to 346 of 731 deaths. That study also found that most of the fatal poisonings it reviewed, 444 of the 682 with a known location, occurred in the child's home, and that opioids' share of the substances contributing to deaths rose from 24.1 percent in 2005 to 52.2 percent in 2018.

Neither study addresses the circumstances of the Fuller Street case, and police have not said how the child was exposed. The charges against Familia have not been tested in court.

The department asked anyone with information to contact the Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. Tips can be given anonymously through the CrimeStoppers line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting "TIP" to CRIME (27463), and photos and videos can also be submitted anonymously, police said.

For anyone affected by the death, the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team offers free, confidential emotional support around the clock at 617-431-0125, according to the department.