A 30-year-old Ohio mother is wanted on charges in connection with the death of her 17-month-old daughter after she told a 911 dispatcher the toddler was “purple,” declined to perform CPR and fled in a red Jeep Compass, authorities said.
Brittany Stroud faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and drug possession. Her mother, Tammy Stroud, has been charged with complicity to involuntary manslaughter, complicity to child endangerment and complicity to drug possession.
Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office deputies and paramedics were sent to a home in the 7800 block of High Street at about 11:14 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2026, after a report that a toddler was not breathing.
On the 911 call, a distraught Brittany Stroud told the dispatcher her daughter “is dead.” When asked whether she knew CPR, she responded by “stating it was beyond that point,” the affidavit says.
“We’re past that,” she tells the dispatcher on the call. “She’s purple. Oh my God.”
Another child can be heard crying in the background and asking what is happening. Stroud also said she had checked on the toddler earlier that morning, noting that she had been “laying with her face flat in the bed.”
A medic told a responding officer the girl was found not breathing on a mattress in a rear bedroom. Responders began CPR and took her to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, where she was pronounced dead.
According to the affidavit, the child spent much of the previous evening on the living room floor while family members were home. Tammy Stroud, who held legal custody under a court order, told investigators she went to bed while the girl remained there and that the child was still on the floor when she left for work around 6 a.m.
Authorities said the child was moved to a bedroom at some point after that. Brittany Stroud said she checked on her daughter around 7:30 a.m. and heard her snoring before going back to sleep. She woke around 11 a.m. and found the girl not breathing.
“[The toddler] was reported to have been sleeping on her knees with her face partially pushed into the mattress that possibly restricted her oxygen intake,” the affidavit says.
Stroud turned the child onto her back and ran from the room to call 911. The affidavit states she declined to attempt CPR.
An autopsy performed Oct. 14 at the Franklin County Coroner’s Office found a lethal amount of fentanyl in the child’s system, according to the sheriff’s office.
After searching the home, authorities obtained arrest warrants for both women on Oct. 16.
Tammy Stroud surrendered Oct. 18 and pleaded not guilty at her arraignment the next day. She is being held in the Pickaway County jail on a $250,000 bond.
The sheriff’s office said Brittany Stroud’s warrant remains outstanding. She was last seen driving a red Jeep Compass and is known to frequent the Columbus and Franklin County areas.