Leavenworth babysitter sentenced in fentanyl-related death of 3-year-old boy
A Leavenworth woman was sentenced Friday for her involvement in the death of a 3-year-old boy she was babysitting.
Tara Ann Huerta, 40, was sentenced to over 8 years in prison for on one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangering of a child in the March 2025 death of E-lah “EJ” Brown Jr., who authorities say died from fentanyl poisoning, according to court documents.
Huerta pled guilty in February in Leavenworth County District Court to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangering a child, according to previous Star reporting.
EJ’s mother, Briana Davis, 30, previously told The Star that she left her son with Huerta and her boyfriend, Kenneth C. Hedgecock, 35, at the Woodland Village Apartments on March 24, 2025, after he fell asleep and while Davis was getting a face tattoo.
EJ stayed the night, and Davis left at 5 a.m. the next day and slept for most of the day. Around 10 p.m., she called her neighbor, who said EJ was doing well and was sleeping, she told The Star.
Hours later, the neighbor knocked on door and told her that her son wasn’t breathing. Leavenworth police were called to the apartments in the 2900 Block of Martin Luther King Drive around 4:30 a.m. on March 26, 2025, on a medical call. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives opened a homicide investigation after finding several items suspected of being illegal drugs and paraphernalia in the apartment.
Hedgecock pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated endangerment of a child. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Davis pleaded no contest on Jan. 21 and was found guilty of child abandonment and aggravated battery, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment.
Previous reporting from The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton, Caroline Zimmerman and PJ Green was used in this article.
This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 2:22 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated Tara Ann Huerta’s prison term, which is just over 8 years.
