warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
when a five year old boy sudden dies under mysterious circumstances, investigators in dayton,Ohio desperately search for an explanation.
on the morning of saturday ,march 20,th 2024,Dayton dispatchers receive a chilling 911 call.
the child would later be identified as 5 year old charles anthony brown.
police and paramedics arrive to the scene, but it quickly become clear that the young boy is beyond any hope of resuscitation.
an officer speaks with the child’s grandmother,58 year old ,stephanie shanks, who was babysitting the three grandchildren while their mother was at work.
charles sudden death leaves officers searching for answers.but any hope of an explanation must wait for investigators who are on their way to the scene.
for now , officers outside share their thoughts on the devastating situation.
suddenly an unidentified male approaches the scene and isstopped by officers who’ve been instructed not to let anyone inside.
seconds later ,the mother of the three children,including the deceased 5 year old boy,races towards the home.
inside the house the grandmother agrees to sign a consent to search the home and investigators are brought up to speed on the situation.
after completing their search,investigators uncover ashocking clue that may explain charle’s sudden death.
which lands stephanie in an interrogation room.
before confronting her with their findings,they first questioning her about the events of the previous day.
she explains that she usually watches the children every saturday and sunday while their mother works.but this time she took them in on friday morning because their daycare was closed for Good friday.
she describes their day and evening as typical where the children played in and out of the home until nightfall.
stephanie gives one of the investigators permission to go through her phone while the other pepares to confront her whith what they found inside her home.
boy= heroin
based on the evidence andher own admission,the investigator poses adevastating theory.
despite the explanation,stephanie still seems to struggle with accepting the posibility.
the investigator questions stephanie about where she obtained the substances. she claims she purchased them from a man named greg,but her reluctance to share more information about him causes the interrogation to grow increasingly more intense.
hours earler ,neighbors, friends,and family stood witness to the grieving mother’s reaction when her son’s body was moved to the coroner’s van.
stephanie gives investigators a street name,but no exact address,along with the vague physical description.however, a startling discovery on her phone shifts the investigation dramatically, casting doubt on everything she said about greg.
as one investigator steps out the room to take a closer look a the phone, the other continues to press stephanie for the truth.
with confusion over greg and the mysterious contact in her phone,the investigator preents her a final ultimatum.
choosing to stay,stephanie finally reveals the truth.
despite her admission,the only way to be certain is to review the results of charle’s autopsy and toxicology reports.
a postmortem tocixology report for 5 year old charles anthony brown ruled his cause of death as intoxication by fentanyl and other illegal substances.
according to his death certificate, the approximate time between the onset of exposure and death would’ve been minutes.on his death certificate, the manner of death is listed as an accident.
58 year old stephanie shanks pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter as well as two misdemeanor charges of endangering children and was sentenced to four to six years in prison.