Insets: Justin Soll and Shannon Wester (Lucas County Jail). Background: The 2900 block of Luverne Avenue in Oregon, Ohio, where Soll and Wester’s newborn died from cocaine toxicity (Google Maps).
An Ohio couple is headed to prison for at least a decade after their newborn daughter died of cocaine toxicity and bottle nipples were found alongside drugs.
Justin Soll, 32, will spend between 10 and 15 years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Emilia Soll, who died at just 8 days old. Emilia’s mother, Shannon Wester, was sentenced on Oct. 30 to between 5 and 7 1/2 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to the same charges.
According to local CBS affiliate WTOL, cops responded around 4 a.m. on Feb. 22 to a home in the 2900 block of Luverne Avenue in Oregon, near Toledo, for a call about a newborn not breathing.
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Wester said she had fed the girl, then 5 days old, about two hours earlier before placing her on a pink pillow on the floor. Soll said he woke up to find his daughter not breathing. He called 911 and started CPR until paramedics arrived.
First responders found the girl pale, with vomit coming from her mouth. She was rushed to the hospital, where she died three days later.
Cops found pacifiers and bottle nipples near bags of white powder.
The Toledo Blade reported that Emilia died of cocaine toxicity. The parents and baby were living in the basement of Wester’s parents’ house.
“The bedroom was riddled with numerous drug paraphernalia and cocaine,” prosecutor Samantha Crist told the court, per the Blade. “There were a lot of drugs in a very small room.”
Soll said in a letter read to the judge by his lawyer that he was “deeply sorry” for his actions, saying he struggled with drug addiction for years.
“I should have sought help before she was born. I failed to put her needs before my own,” he said.
Following his daughter’s death, he and Wester went on “benders that we hoped would kill us,” he reportedly wrote.
Judge Joe McNamara said Soll failed his daughter.
“You’re a danger to the community when you’re using,” the judge said, according to the Blade.
Emilia never should have been in that basement, McNamara reportedly said when sentencing Wester.
“That was not a safe place for your child to be,” the judge declared.
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