The manslaughter charge follows a fatal overdose and earlier state contact with the child’s mother.
SEATTLE, Wash. — Prosecutors have charged a Seattle mother with manslaughter after her baby died from fentanyl intoxication, citing prior child welfare warnings that they say put her on notice about the deadly risk of drug exposure around infants.
The charge against 33-year-old Safarah Rotaya Red places the death of her 11-month-old son inside a larger record of state involvement, drug testing and safety planning before the child died Oct. 26, 2024. The immediate criminal case turns on whether Red recklessly caused the death. The broader record, as described in court and fatality review documents, shows child protective workers had been alerted to drug use concerns soon after the baby was born.
Child welfare workers first became involved after the child’s birth in November 2023, according to a child fatality review described in reports on the case. Hospital staff reported Red tested positive for methadone and fentanyl and had regularly used fentanyl during pregnancy. Red later told child protective workers that she had started methadone treatment and was no longer using fentanyl. A caseworker reviewed child safety concerns with her, including the danger fentanyl can pose to children through residue, contact and accidental ingestion. The worker also discussed hand-washing and changing clothes after use, according to the review. Red showed the worker a bag of Narcan and a lockbox in the home.
Prosecutors say those warnings matter because the child later died in the same home environment after what medical examiners determined was acute fentanyl intoxication. Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Logan Bryant wrote in a bail request that Red had access to services but still placed a vulnerable child where he could obtain a deadly narcotic. Prosecutors also said records showed Red tested positive for fentanyl at least four times after the child’s birth while denying continued use to her DCYF caseworker. The child welfare case was closed in June 2024, several months before the boy’s death. Officials have not said that any single agency decision caused the death, and the criminal charge is directed at Red, not the department.
The fatality review became part of the case background after police built a separate criminal timeline. Red called 911 around 2 a.m. on Oct. 26 and reported that her child was not breathing. She told dispatchers she had been assaulted about three hours earlier at the Othello light rail station and that a man had forced a white substance into her mouth, according to the arrest report. She said the substance tasted like fentanyl and that her son might also have been exposed. Dispatch notes said Red sounded high or intoxicated and was unable to follow CPR instructions while repeating apologies. Officers forced their way into the apartment after she did not open the door and found the child dead on a floor mattress.
Investigators later said the light rail account did not hold up. Police reviewed transit and apartment surveillance video and said they found no attack matching Red’s description. The video allegedly showed her getting off at Rainier Beach, using a bus and returning to the apartment building with the baby in a stroller. At the apartment, cameras allegedly showed her entering a mailroom while singing and dancing. Prosecutors said that image conflicted with her description of a recent violent assault. Another camera allegedly showed Red throwing two trash bags into a chute while she was still speaking with 911 and while the baby was unresponsive in the apartment. The contents of those bags were not recovered, so investigators have not identified what was thrown away.
Medical findings gave prosecutors another basis for the charge. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office found that the baby died from acute fentanyl intoxication. The autopsy also detected norfentanyl, which forms when fentanyl is metabolized by the body. A pathologist said the amount of norfentanyl indicated the child’s body had processed some of the drug and that chronic exposure was the most likely reason. Investigators said they also found drug paraphernalia and a cup containing fentanyl powder inside Red’s apartment. Prosecutors used those details to argue the child had not simply encountered fentanyl in a random station assault and that Red had attempted to direct investigators toward an unknown man.
The case has drawn attention from Washington lawmakers who have criticized how the state handles child welfare cases involving substance use. Rep. Josh Penner, a Republican from Orting, told KOMO News that the case fit a pattern of children dying after contact with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. DCYF officials have defended the state’s policy direction, saying children should be kept safely at home when possible and that substance use concerns require treatment, community support and tools to prevent accidental ingestion. The policy debate is separate from Red’s criminal case, but the court filings show prosecutors plan to use the prior warnings as part of their argument that Red knew the risk.
Red’s defense has pushed back against keeping her jailed. Attorney Madeline Mashon wrote that the death was a tragedy and that Red understood the seriousness of the charge. Mashon said Red had no criminal history, had community stability and had no other criminal legal involvement during the 17 months between her son’s death and the filing of the charge. She asked for electronic home detention and said any concern about relapse could be addressed by barring unsupervised contact with children. Prosecutors argued the facts supported high bail because of the child’s death, Red’s alleged false account and the earlier warnings about fentanyl.
Red was arrested March 11, 2026, and charged the next day in King County Superior Court. A judge set bail at $500,000, and Red has pleaded not guilty. The case now moves forward with the child welfare record, the autopsy and the surveillance timeline all expected to remain central as the court weighs pretrial issues.
Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.