Salem man charged in fentanyl-related death of 1-year-old daughter

A Salem man was arrested on an active warrant during a traffic stop on Wednesday and charged in connection with the fentanyl-related death of his 1-year-old daughter in February, according to the Connecticut State Police.

Travis Schubel, 38, was charged with second-degree reckless manslaughter, risk of injury to a child, possession of a controlled substance and use of drug paraphernalia in connection with the death of his 1-year-old daughter on Feb. 8, according to the arrest warrant. He was taken into custody during a traffic stop conducted by the Waterford Police Department on Wednesday.

This is the second arrest in the case. The child’s mother, 28-year-old Ricki Thomas, was arrested in November on the same charges. Thomas pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled to appear in court next on Jan. 30, 2023, according to court records.

Police were called to an address in Salem around 9:50 a.m. on Feb. 8 by Thomas and Janice Schubel, 67, reporting that the infant was not responsive and possibly not breathing. The two told dispatchers that the infant’s lips were turning purple and there was white foam coming from her nose. Thomas told dispatchers that the baby was found in the pack-and-play where she normally slept and it looked like she slept on one side all night because one side of her was purple. The two began CPR on the child until emergency services arrived, according to the warrant for Travis Schubel’s arrest.

Emergency services arrived within five minutes of the call and did a rapid response assessment, which determined the infant did not have a pulse and was not breathing. The child was warm to the touch and some discoloration was present around the child’s lips, but discoloration associated with death was not present, the warrant said.

The EMT then administered a small dosage of Narcan, a drug used to treat narcotics overdose, to the child as a precaution before the infant was transported to Backus Hospital in Norwich.

The child was turned over to the emergency department at the hospital and was pronounced dead at 10:41 a.m., less than an hour after the call was placed, the warrant said.

A trooper from Troop K responded to the home in tandem with emergency services and spoke to Janice Schubel after the child was transported. Schubel showed the trooper the bedroom and the trooper saw a used Narcan cartridge underneath the child’s pack-and-play.

More police officers arrived and were shown the room where the child was found. Investigators found “numerous indicators of narcotic use in plain sight,” including multiple capped and uncapped needles, several yellow baggies, small yellow bands and a pink and white pill capsule, the warrant said.

Janice Schubel told investigators she was watching the child with another relative the night before the child died. The two then gave the child to her father, Travis Schubel, in his shared bedroom with Thomas around 10 p.m., the warrant said. The next morning at 8 a.m., Janice Schubel said Travis Schubel asked her to watch the child while he and Thomas went to a methadone clinic. Janice Schubel said she could not, so Travis Schubel went by himself, according to the warrant.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, Janice Schubel said Thomas came into her bedroom holding the child and she saw white foam coming out of the infant’s nose, according to the warrant. They then called the police.

Thomas told investigators that nothing appeared to be wrong with the child on Feb. 7 and she was her “happy, silly self,” according to the warrant. Thomas said she put the child to sleep around 11 or 11:30 p.m. in her pack-and-play. Thomas said the child did not wake up overnight like she normally did and when she woke up at 9 a.m., she could not wake the child up. She said she found the girl with her head to one side and nothing covering her face, then went to get Janice Schubel, the warrant said.

Thomas said Travis Schubel left the home before she checked on the child and did not notice anything out of the ordinary, according to the warrant. She said she was aware Travis Schubel had a history of drug use and was taking methadone, which was supposed to be locked in a silver lock box, but she was unaware of any other drugs in the home, the warrant said. She denied ever using drugs and denied Narcan being administered to the child on Feb. 8, according to the warrant. She said the child was not able to get out of the pack-and-play and was not walking yet but could stand on her own.

Police obtained a search warrant due to the condition of the home when police responded on Feb. 8. Troopers executed the search warrant that night and the “conditions of the residence were observed to be deplorable,” the warrant said.

There was a used diaper on the floor, a yogurt container with flies and a full nip bottle without a cap in the living room, according to the warrant. In the kitchen, there were dirty dishes in the sink and cooked food left out, the warrant said.

The child’s bedroom was in similar shape, the warrant said. It was “cluttered and unkept,” with a dark red splatter across the ceiling and clothing on the floor. There was a pack-and-play with a pillow, a small pancake and multiple toys inside. A used Narcan cartridge was found underneath the front corner of the pack-and-play, according to the warrant. There was partially eaten food and an open jar of baby food with flies, too.

Police said they found a dresser with multiple empty prescription methadone bottles in close proximity to a small pancake, according to the warrant. There were several capped and uncapped needles in the dresser, with transparent baggies, small rubber bands and metal spoons with residue on them, the warrant said. There was allegedly a storage box in the second drawer of the dresser containing 38 baggies with an unknown powder substance, according to the warrant.

Police said they spoke with Travis Schubel on the morning of Feb. 15 at the methadone clinic he frequents. He told investigators he went to sleep on Feb. 7 around 8:30 p.m. and woke up to Thomas rocking the baby around 10:30 p.m. He again woke up at 8:30 a.m. the next day and the child was asleep in her pack-and-play with nothing covering her face, the warrant said. He asked Janice Schubel to watch the child and left the house when she said she declined.

Police said he admitted to having a substance abuse history, including opiates and alcohol, and allegedly told police that the drugs found in the home were his. He said he was unaware of the Narcan cartridge on the floor, according to the warrant, and said Janice Schubel and Thomas told him they did not use Narcan on the child.

Investigators were made aware of a Department of Children and Families case from a visit on Jan. 26 where Thomas reported concerns over Travis Schubel’s drug use. Police said this contradicted what she told police on Feb. 8, the warrant said.

On March 11, investigators were told that Travis Schubel submitted a urine sample at the methadone clinic on Jan. 25 that tested positive for fentanyl. He then submitted a urine sample on Feb. 10 that tested positive for benzodiazepines and another on Feb. 16 that tested positive for fentanyl and THC, the warrant said.

On May 13, investigators received lab analysis of the unknown powder found in the white and yellow bags in the dresser of Travis Schubel and Thomas’ bedroom, which were allegedly accessible to the child. The report said there was fentanyl present in the powdered substance, according to the warrant.

Then on May 23, police said they received a lab report of a DNA test done on the Narcan cartridge found near the child’s pack-and-play. It was found as a likely match to the child’s DNA, the warrant said.

A DNA swab from the body of the cartridge matched DNA to Travis Schubel on May 31, the warrant said.

A report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner listed the cause of death as “acute intoxication due to Fentanyl and Xylazine” and the manner of death as “homicide (ingestion of illicit substances).” Xylazine is used as an animal sedative. Toxicology reports showed positive results for xylazine, fentanyl, norfentanyl, ethanol and naloxone or Narcan, according to the warrant.

After the lab findings, drug test results and observations by police of the child’s living conditions, investigators applied for and obtained a warrant charging Travis Schubel with manslaughter and other charges.