Babysitter Arrested In 3YO EJ Brown's Death After Autopsy Shows Drug Poisoning

[Sugar Cookie]

A Kansas City woman has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a 3-year-old child back in March.

That boy’s name is E-lah Jahmal Brown Jr.

According to the Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office, 40-year-old Tara Huerta is facing one count of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, one count of possession of Fentanyl, one count of possession of methamphetamine, and one count of possession of cocaine.

When officers and emergency personnel arrived, they took the unresponsive 3-year-old boy to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Following the boy’s death, detectives opened a homicide investigation after finding several items related to illegal drugs and paraphernalia inside the apartment.

An autopsy of the boy’s body later confirmed he had died of acute Fentanyl toxicity, according to police. This aligned with some of the illegal substances found in the apartment, including Fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory confirmed.

https://www.ksn.com/news/state-regional/kansas-city-woman-charged-accused-of-killing-3-year-old-boy-in-leavenworth/

Tara Huerta, 40, and Kenneth Hedgecock, 34, have been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated endangering a child, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and possession of fentanyl, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article311747624.html#storylink=cpy

She has been identified as the child's baby sitter.

 

[HEREIBE22]

So sad! This was a very loved little guy.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

If someone left the baby with that woman knowing the creature below would be around the child they need to be charged.

Kenneth Hedgecock, 34

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Leavenworth woman was sentenced Friday for her involvement in the death of a 3-year-old boy she was babysitting.

Tara Ann Huerta, 40, was sentenced to over 16 years in prison for on one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangering of a child in the March 2025 death of E-lah “EJ” Brown Jr., who authorities say died from fentanyl poisoning, according to court documents.

Huerta pled guilty in February in Leavenworth County District Court to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangering a child, according to previous Star reporting.

EJ’s mother, Briana Davis, 30, previously told The Star that she left her son with Huerta and her boyfriend, Kenneth C. Hedgecock, 35, at the Woodland Village Apartments on March 24, 2025, after he fell asleep and while Davis was getting a face tattoo.

EJ stayed the night, and Davis left at 5 a.m. the next day and slept for most of the day. Around 10 p.m., she called her neighbor, who said EJ was doing well and was sleeping, she told The Star.

Hours later, the neighbor knocked on door and told her that her son wasn’t breathing. Leavenworth police were called to the apartments in the 2900 Block of Martin Luther King Drive around 4:30 a.m. on March 26, 2025, on a medical call. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Hedgecock pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangerment of a child. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Davis pleaded no contest on Jan. 21 and was found guilty of child abandonment and aggravated battery, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment.

MSN

Happy the mother was charged but she won;t get the sentence she deserves, sadly.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A 35-year-old Leavenworth man has been sentenced to prison in connection with the fentanyl-related death of a 3-year-old boy.

Kenneth C. Hedgecock was sentenced Wednesday, April 1, 2026, to 120 months (10 years) on count one, involuntary manslaughter, and 18 months on count two, aggravated endangering a child. The sentences will run consecutively to one another and consecutive to all prior sentences he is currently serving.

Hedgecock previously pleaded no contest on March 2, 2026, to one count of involuntary manslaughter
and one count of aggravated endangering a child and was found guilty on both counts.

Hedgecock, along with 40-year-old Tara A. Huerta and 30-year-old Briana R.M. Davis, was charged in
connection with the March 26, 2025, death of Davis’ 3-year-old child, who was in the care of Hedgecock
and Huerta at the time of the incident.

All three defendants have now been convicted in this case

https://files.leavenworthcounty.gov/hedgecock%20sentence.pdf?t=202604011608190&t=202604011608190