Dad of North Texas toddler who died of fentanyl poisoning waited hours to call 911: warrant

The father of a North Texas toddler whose February death has been linked to fentanyl poisoning faces a charge of injury to a child because he waited more than two hours to call 911 after his daughter became ill, according to court records.

Two-year-old Nevaeh Meshelle Reed was visiting her father at an apartment in Mansfield when she lost consciousness the night of Feb. 18 and eventually quit breathing. Instead of calling for medical help, investigators say 26-year-old Michael Ray Reed searched YouTube for information on how to make a child throw up and tried to get naloxone, a medication that can be used to reverse opioid overdoses, delivered via DoorDash.

Nevaeh died in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Cook Children’s Medical Center on Feb. 28, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Her cause of death is still pending on the medical examiner’s site, but a pill on the floor of the apartment near where Nevaeh was found unconscious has tested positive for fentanyl, according to an arrest warrant affidavit for Reed obtained by the Star-Telegram.

Reed was arrested Feb. 23, but has since bonded out, according to jail records. Nevaeh’s aunt, 30-year-old Jamie Nicole Popovic, was also arrested and charged with knowingly or recklessly abandoning or endangering a child. She has since posted bond and was released.

Mansfield police officers responded to an apartment at 1751 Towne Crossing Blvd. the night of Feb. 18 after they were called about the unresponsive 2-year-old. Paramedics performed CPR on the toddler and transported her to the hospital.

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According to the arrest warrants issued for Reed and Popovic, officers noticed the apartment was dirty with a “strong odor of marijuana” inside. They also saw two pills on a desk along with burnt marijuana cigarettes and a syringe on the coffee table.

Reed initially told police that he came over to the apartment to dog-sit and fell asleep on the couch with Nevaeh. He woke up when his sister, Popovic, alerted him that something was wrong with his daughter.

Popovic showed police a receipt from a Chili’s restaurant that said she’d been there for the evening and paid her bill at 6:57 p.m. She stayed for a while after that to finish her drink. She told police she got back to the apartment around 8 or 9 p.m. and found Nevaeh on the floor — unconscious and struggling to breathe.

According to the arrest warrants, the officer who interviewed Reed and Popovic realized at least one hour elapsed between the time Popovic said she returned to the apartment and found Nevaeh to when 911 was called at 10:17 p.m. The officer alerted the detective to the time discrepancy.

A third resident at the apartment, Anthony McDonald, told police Nevaeh came into his upstairs bedroom around 8 p.m. with “powder all over her.” He went downstairs to see what she’d gotten into and found Reed sleeping on the couch. McDonald returned to his room and Nevaeh left, he said.

McDonald came downstairs again when he heard Popovic yelling at Reed to wake up because something was wrong with Nevaeh. Both McDonald and Popovic said Reed told them not to call 911 because he was afraid he would lose his kids.

McDonald said in his statement to police that he knew Nevaeh wasn’t OK because her head was bent backwards and she was limp. He put his finger down the toddler’s throat and attempted to get her to throw up. He also said they put ice on her face in an effort to wake her up, according to the arrest warrants.

A search warrant for Reed’s cell phone was issued Feb. 19. His search history indicated he’d checked YouTube at 8:13 p.m. for instructions on how to make a child throw up. He also looked up other videos after that, according to his arrest warrant.

“Those other searches had nothing to do with a child who was overdosing or medical advice,” the warrant stated.

It also appeared Reed was trying to get naloxone delivered by DoorDash, the warrants state. Based on the evidence found on Reed’s phone, over two hours went by before he finally called 911, investigators said. He told police he called for help when the 2-year-old stopped breathing.

Reed admitted he never told paramedics that he suspected his daughter had ingested fentanyl. When police searched the apartment with a warrant, they found a blue M30 pill on the living room floor in front of the TV. It tested positive for fentanyl and was only 4 or 5 feet from the place Popovic said she’d found Nevaeh.

“Why this pill was on the floor is unknown and in a very high traffic area of the apartment,” the warrant states.

Police also found marijuana, white pills, a scale and plastic baggies used to store marijuana in the apartment. A loaded gun was located on top of a kitchen cabinet next to the pantry.

Nevaeh was on life support when Reed was arrested. He currently faces a first-degree felony charge of knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a child by failing to call for medical help and “failing to safeguard pills out of reach of the victim,” according to the warrant.

Popovic faces a charge of criminal negligence for not calling 911 “in a timely manner,” her arrest warrant states.

An online obituary for Nevaeh describes her as a “beacon of light” who “had a special gift for touching the hearts of those around her and leaving an indelible mark on everyone she met.”