Insets: Safarah Red in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Wash. (KING/Youtube). Background: The apartment building where Safarah Red’s 11-month-old son was found dead from a fentanyl overdose that she allegedly caused (KOMO/YouTube).
A Washington state mother was allegedly caught on video “singing and dancing” before killing her baby with fentanyl, with prosecutors saying she “went to great lengths to concoct a story” about how she was innocent.
Safarah Red, 33, is charged with manslaughter for killing her 11-month-old son in 2024 with a dose of fentanyl that she tried claiming came from an “unknown assailant” who attacked her and the child at a Seattle train station, according to court documents filed in King County Superior Court.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime says Red called police around 2 a.m. and alleged that her son was not breathing following an attack that occurred three hours earlier.
“During the 911 call, Red told dispatchers that that assault had occurred at the Light Rail station,” the affidavit recounts. “She explained she came home and made her son a bottle and then woke up on the ground.”
Call notes made by the dispatcher say Red “sounded high or intoxicated” and she was claiming that her child “might have” been exposed to a substance that an “unknown male had forced in her mouth” during the alleged attack, per the affidavit.
“Dispatch provided instructions to Red for CPR due to the child no longer breathing but it appeared she was not listening to 911 and in too much of an elevated state to follow these directions,” the affidavit says. “She just continued to say, ‘I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!'”
Police officers showed up to Red’s residence but she allegedly refused to come to the door. The officers were forced to break into the apartment, with officers finding Red inside “crying uncontrollably” and yelling, “I’m sorry” to herself.
Red’s son was already dead when authorities arrived and “cold to the touch” on a mattress on the floor, the affidavit says.
A case summary and bail request filed by prosecutors, which was also obtained by Law&Crime, says Red told investigators that a man had attacked her earlier in the evening and forced a “white substance that tasted like fentanyl” into her mouth at a south Seattle light rail station. She allegedly claimed that her infant son may have been exposed as well.
“Investigators say that account was false and allege Red was a known fentanyl user who had previously been investigated by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) for drug use around her baby,” the case summary says. “The defendant went to great lengths to concoct a story about how an unknown individual supposedly forced a ‘white substance’ into her mouth on public transportation and that, according to the defendant, ‘it tasted like fentanyl.”‘”
Prosecutors say Red provided a “generalized description of this unknown assailant” to law enforcement in an attempt to “cover up her own actions and lead law enforcement to investigate her claim,” per the case summary.
“Interestingly, the apartment surveillance video shows the defendant with the victim entering the complex after the supposed attack and going to the mail room where she appeared to be dancing and not in a state of distress, counter to her version of events,” the summary alleges.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Red was captured on surveillance video pushing a stroller with her son in it while “singing and dancing.” Police reviewed footage from the light rail station during the times Red said the alleged attack happened and were unable to find her on camera, per the affidavit.
“The unknown male … put a white object in her mouth that Red stated, ‘tasted like fentanyl,'” the affidavit explains, citing statements Red gave to police.
“She said it began dissolving as she tried spitting it out,” according to the affidavit. “She was pushed to the ground by the man after being punched in the face multiple times. The male grabbed her wallet and fled the scene.”
While recounting the attack story to police, Red said she darted home and laid her son down on the mattress before passing out, according to the affidavit. Red allegedly claimed she “woke up later and found [her son] foaming at the mouth, laying in the same position she had left him in.”
Police say Red told them she gave her son “several doses of Narcan and placed him in the shower as she had seen on TV.” After that, she said she called 911.
“While she was on the phone with 911, apartment surveillance video shows the defendant throwing two trash bags away in the trash chute,” the case summary alleges. “The contents of those bags were never recovered and are unknown, however, it appeared getting rid of those items were of the utmost importance to the defendant given the fact that she was still on the phone with dispatch while the 11 month old victim was non-responsive within the apartment unit.”
Prosecutors say that the autopsy performed on Red’s son “revealed levels of norfentanyl that indicate likely chronic exposure to the controlled substance,” according to the case summary.
“The defendant had access to services and yet still placed such a vulnerable victim in a dangerous position where they were able to obtain a deadly narcotic,” the summary explains, noting how Red had been put on notice prior to this death occurring by social workers.
“In November 2023, a DCYF social worker met with the defendant at her home and reminded her of how deadly fentanyl can be to children,” the case summary says. “At that time, the defendant said she was aware and will follow safe procedures if she uses. She also pulled out a drawer full of Narcan in the kitchen drawer and showed a lockbox on top of her sink in the kitchen area. This notice was almost a year prior to the defendant recklessly causing the death of a child.”
Red was being held this week at the King County Jail, with her bail set at $500,000. She is due back in court on April 28.
