Two alleged drug dealers have been charged with murder months after the death of a toddler in San Jose led to assassination attempts against her parents.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Wednesday that 31-year-old Phillip Ortega of Gilroy and 32-year-old Paige Vitale were babysitting 18-month-old Winter Doe while also providing her parents with a steady supply of medication. opioids.
On August 12, 2023, San Jose police said officers responded to the 1500 block of Huddersfield Court in the city’s Willow Glen neighborhood for a report of an infant who was unconscious and not breathing. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prosecutors said the baby had been dead for hours when doctors arrived. A search found fentanyl and drug residue throughout the home, including on a rug under the baby’s body. The child’s parents, Derek Vaughn Rayo, 27, and Kelly Jean Richardson, 28, waited more than 12 hours before calling 911, prosecutors said.
There is evidence that Ortega and Vitale consistently supplied Rayo and Richardson with fentanyl and methamphetamine, and investigators found photos and videos showing all four using drugs in the same room as the child, the office said. The child was able to wander around the house where the alleged dealers left drugs and dirty drug paraphernalia out in the open for the toddler to find.
“The fatal irresponsibility of those around Baby Winter is shocking – and criminal,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a prepared statement. “We will hold accountable everyone whose recklessness ended that poor girl’s life.”
After a November coroner’s report found the child had 15 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her blood, Rayo and Richardson became the first parents in the county charged with drug-fueled murder of their own child.
Ortega and Vitale were scheduled to be arraigned at the San Jose Hall of Justice on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
Under the law, people can be charged with murder if they commit a dangerous and deliberate act with conscious disregard for human life.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact investigator Sheena Woodland at (408) 792-2334 or swoodland@dao.sccgov.org.
