Upper Darby parents charged for 10-month-old girl's drug overdose death

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) -- A mother and father have been charged with murder after their 10-month-old daughter died after ingesting fentanyl back in April.

Police say the baby's parents knew she needed help but waited hours to call paramedics, and then fabricated a story about what happened.

34-year -old Lauren Semanyk was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of her 10-month-old daughter, Angelina. The girl's father, Joseph Milano, was already in custody following a DUI arrest.

Police say together the pair tried to cover-up the fact that their little girl ingested heroin. She might have been saved, but died.

"This is a very, very tragic story and it shows what drug addiction can do," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Thursday.

Police say it happened in the couple's home in the 51-hundred block of Westley in the Clifton Heights section of Upper Darby on April 16th.

The parents called 911 and told paramedics the unresponsive child had slipped underwater in the bathtub. Only later did investigators confirm the child had ingested fentanyl-laced heroin.

"Subsequently, an autopsy was performed on the child and there was no water in the child's lungs. So, obviously the child did not die of drowning," Chitwood said.

In fact, investigators say the little girl might have been saved. Instead, police say, the parents waited a minimum of six hours before calling for medical help, and by then it was far too late to save her.

"Because of their lack of action, an innocent life has been unjustly taken and a family has been destroyed," Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said.

"She was healthy. She was just learning to walk. She could say mama and dada and she's dead," Chitwood said.

The parents are charged with third degree murder and related offenses.

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