Wife’s Daycare Tragedy: Man on the Run as Fentanyl Claimed Child’s Life

Police are currently actively searching for the husband of the woman who operated the daycare in New York City where a child tragically died after being exposed to fentanyl last Friday. According to reports by ABC 7 New York, the man was captured on surveillance video fleeing the scene. Charges have been filed against Grei Mendez, the wife and owner of the daycare, as well as Carlisto Acevedo Brito, her cousin and tenant of the apartment where the daycare was located, both at the state and federal level. The BBC states that Mendez contacted her husband twice before calling 911 to report the emergency. As a result of the fentanyl exposure, one-year-old Nicholas Dominici lost his life, while two other children were also affected but fortunately survived. Additionally, another child fell ill after being picked up from the daycare and had to be hospitalized.

Authorities are currently working to verify the identity of Mendez’s husband, who is believed to be an accomplice in this tragic incident. Police discovered fentanyl hidden under a mat used by the children for napping, leading them to accuse the trio of distributing the drug from the apartment. Mendez’s legal representative claims that she was unaware of the presence of fentanyl in the apartment. Surveillance footage allegedly shows Mendez’s husband leaving the apartment with multiple filled shopping bags during the emergency. Furthermore, Mendez deleted 20,000 messages from her phone prior to her arrest, although authorities have the capability to recover them. City health inspectors conducted an unannounced inspection at the daycare on September 6, but no violations were found. The daycare had only recently opened in January. (Read more New York City stories.)