Toddler died from drug overdose after parents left her alone for 22 hours: court records

April 03--GREENCASTLE -- At 3 years old, Logan Starliper may be the youngest victim of an illegal drug overdose in Central Pennsylvania in recent history.

She's certainly the youngest in Franklin County, according to coroner Jeff Conner.

Logan died in January in her bed in Greencastle, Pa., after her mother and mother's boyfriend injected methamphetamine in their bedroom, police said last month in announcing criminal charges against the couple.

Police have not revealed exactly how the toddler gained access to the drugs that caused her death: methamphetamine and buprenorphine, a prescription narcotic used to treat opioid addiction, but police found three pipes with burned residue inside the home at 43 West Baltimore Street during a search warrant.

During the police investigation, investigators discovered the couple had not checked on Logan for more than 22 hours after putting her to bed about 10:30 p.m.Jan. 5.

Bennett said he peeked through a crack in the door at 10 a.m.Jan. 6, but thought the girl was still asleep.

At 9 p.m.Jan. 6, Logan's mother, Brittany Higgins, checked Logan, found her unresponsive and called police.

Three days later, Higgins had a "mental breakdown" and went to her parents' house, where she revealed she and her boyfriend Brian Bennett had been doing methamphetamine, according to court documents.

Higgins handed her mother a bag with numerous needles and a spoon with heavy white residue, the court records said.

Police waited for toxicology test results on Logan's body before filing criminal charges March 22 in her death. The autopsy results showed Logan died from multiple drug toxicity.

Higgins and Bennett, both 29, now face five felonies each, including third-degree murder, drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter, and two counts of child endangerment. The defendants also face misdemeanor drug possession charges. They both remained behind bars Monday with no bail.

They are set to appear in court today, April 3, for their preliminary hearings, along with their alleged drug supplier, Rodney "Allen" Mower.

Court records say Mower stopped by their home across the street from a church about 5 p.m.Jan. 5 to deliver methamphetamine. It was a known fact, police said, that the couple used any meth that they obtained as soon as they got it.

Mower told police the couple typically put a baby gate at the door to their bedroom and then would prepare and inject meth in the bedroom as Logan and her older brother, about 10 years old, would "hang" on the gate a few feet away from the couple as they partook in drug use.

No one other than Mower visited the home Friday and Logan never left the home during the time-period before she died, according to police.

Mower also was charged with drug delivery resulting in death. He remained in jail Monday with no bond.

Higgins told police she injected meth on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, the two nights before Logan was found dead. She said she stored her meth in a bag on the top shelf of her closet so that "the kids would not get it," court records said. She kept her other drugs locked in a safe, she told police.

Bennett told police he kept his stash of Subutex, to combat opioid addiction, on his stand next to his bed. He said he would keep his meth on his person and "use it as soon as he could."

Both Higgins and Bennett had prescriptions for Subutex, which contains buprenorphine, court records said.

After Logan's death, friends, relatives and neighbors told police about suspected abuse and neglect that spanned six months before Logan died. They described mysterious bruises and large marks on Logan.

It's unclear whether anyone ever reported their suspicions to children and youth services.

Police also uncovered "evidence in communications between Higgins and Bennett that they were physically abusing" Logan and her older brother, according to court records.

Neighbors told PennLive Monday that the couple moved in last summer to an upstairs apartment and kept a low -profile. They moved in after the previous residents abandoned the home because of a methamphetamine lab that was operating on a first-floor apartment. Police broke up the meth lab, neighbors said.

The owner of the home, who rents out multiple units, did not return a phone call from PennLive. The new downstairs neighbor told PennLive he did not know anything about the couple who lived upstairs. The other apartment in the home has been vacant.

A couple who lives nearby said they would see the children playing outside the home and the kids seemed happy and smiling. Logan made snow angels in her back yard after a snow storm a few months ago, the neighbor recalled.

"She was a sweetheart. She liked to dance around like a lot of three-year-olds," said the neighbor who didn't want her name published. "Her death, that's hard to grip."

Another neighbor, who gave her first name as Carol, said she saw the couple move in over the summer with at least one child and that she never heard any noises from their apartment.

"It really surprises me," she said of the deadly overdose.

Brittany didn't work outside of the home, according to neighbors. Bennett appeared to have a job that he maintained after he was sentenced to the county's "weekender jail program" after his second driving under the influence conviction last summer.

His previous criminal record included the two DUIs, one from 2015, and a drug paraphernalia conviction from 2010. Higgins did not have a prior criminal record in Pennsylvania.

Brittany was one of seven daughters in her family. Her father on Monday declined to comment to PennLive except to say relatives are thankful that their older grandson is now in a safe situation.

That grandson's father is deceased, neighbors said. Logan's father, meanwhile, lived with his parents about 30 minutes away.

Family members allege that Higgins and Bennett kept them from seeing Logan in recent years. Now they believe they know why.

Kevin Taccino, Higgins' defense attorney, declined to comment to PennLive.

Logan's death is one of six overdose deaths so far this year in Franklin County. The county logged 35 fatal overdoses last year.

The county coroner said he could not recall a younger victim of an illegal drug overdose in the county's recent history. About ten years ago, however, he said he worked a case with a two-year-old victim who died from an overdose of a legal prescription for Tramadol, a pain medication, after the child consumed pills that fell on the floor.

Police and prosecutors said Logan's death illustrates how bad the climbing number of illegal drug overdoses are.

"The death of this sweet, innocent little girl is the most heartbreaking example of the danger the overdose epidemic has brought to our community and region," Franklin County District Attorney Matthew Fogal said in a news release.

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