WEST MELBOURNE, Fla. — Two people are being held without bond in the death of a two-year-old girl who investigators say ingested kratom pills and wasn’t taken for emergency treatment.
West Melbourne Police arrested the toddler’s father, 35-year-old Jerome Jordan, and 32-year-old Charlene O’Donnell on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm. Both are being held at the Brevard County Jail without bond.
Investigators say two-year-old Jonnie Jordan ingested as many as two and a half kratom pills while at O’Donnell’s Palm Bay home in May.
According to police, both adults knew she had swallowed the pills and watched as her lips turned blue, she suffered a seizure and began breathing abnormally.
Instead of calling 911, police say Jordan took the child back to his sister’s apartment and put her to bed before bringing her to the hospital the following morning, where she was pronounced dead.
The Brevard County Medical Examiner determined Jonnie died from acute mitragynine intoxication, a substance found in kratom. Kratom is a plant-derived substance sold legally in various forms and is often marketed as a supplement.
We reached out to medical expert Dr. Douglas Weber, Assistant Medical Director of Holmes Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Department and Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at Health First, to learn more about Kratom.
He told us, “It’s derived from a plant. I mean the key things the public needs to know is that it works predominantly at the doses people are going get, either capsules, tablets, gummies, similar to opiates with the concern being high ingestion can lead to respiratory depression up to including cardiac arrest similar to an opiate overdose.”
Dr. Weber said kratom can be especially dangerous because it isn’t detected on standard drug screens and, in some cases, Narcan may not reverse its effects. “The fact that it’s legally able to purchase it over 21 may give people a false sense of security,” Weber said.
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