Ludlow mother sentenced for 2-year-old's murder in fentanyl overdose death

A Northern Kentucky mother was given a decades-long prison sentence for her 2-year-old son's fentanyl overdose death, according to the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

Lauren Baker, 36, was sentenced on Monday to 33 years in prison, prosecutors said. The sentence, handed down by Circuit Judge Kate Molloy, matched a recommendation from the jury that in April found Baker guilty of murder, importing fentanyl and trafficking in a controlled substance.

Baker awoke from a nap at her Stokesay Avenue home in Ludlow on March 18, 2021, to find her 2-year-old son, Jaxson Vogt, lying across her legs unresponsive, prosecutors said. The contents of her purse, including the fentanyl she bought with money from a federal stimulus check just a few days before, were scattered across the bedroom.

The toddler was later pronounced dead at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. He had more than 10 times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system, prosecutors said.

Baker was aware fentanyl is deadly but brought it into her home regardless, prosecutors said, adding she also knew Jaxson could get into her drug paraphernalia because just a year earlier the toddler got hold of a burnt spoon Baker used to heat fentanyl.

"Jaxson paid for his mother's fentanyl use with his own life," Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said at trial.

Baker had a system for storing her fentanyl and she took substantial precautions to keep opioids out of her children's reach, John Beaulieu, Baker's public defender, said in court.

Beaulieu said Baker, upon noticing that Jaxson was unresponsive, immediately administered Narcan and performed CPR until first responders arrived. He said Baker was grief-stricken and inconsolable when police reached the home.

Around the time of Jaxson's death, he added, Baker was receiving treatment at a methadone clinic because she suffered from opioid use disorder.

Baker's attorneys also noted she cooperated with the investigation and waived her right to an attorney during a nearly two-hour interview with Sanders and a Ludlow police detective.

"As stated, this case is a tragedy. But, not every tragedy involving a death is a murder. Despite the verdict, Ms. Baker still has tremendous family and community support," Beaulieu said in a statement to The Enquirer. "It was clear that Ms. Baker loved her son and suffered overwhelming grief from his tragic death." 

Beaulieu said Baker intends to appeal her conviction.