ST. LOUIS – A judge signed a pair of arrest warrants for a mother and grandmother for the 2023 overdose death of a 5-month-old girl.

According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s probable cause statement, the overdose happened on Sept. 5-6, 2023, at the Budget Inn motel in the 3600 block of Hamilton Avenue, located in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood.

Police said the infant’s mother, Brionna Dukes, found the child unresponsive on the motel room bed around 7 a.m. Emergency responders declared the 5-month-old dead a short time later. Dukes’ other children were present in the room: a 7-year-old, a 6-year-old, and 2-year-old twins.

Police found two empty capsules on the bathroom sink, which were easily accessible to anyone in the room. The capsules had tested positive for trace amounts of heroin and fentanyl.

Investigators questioned Dukes, who said she knew her mother, Sondria M. Benford, had a history of drug use but thought she’d quit.

Benford told police she comes to the motel room every day to watch her grandchildren while Dukes goes to work. Benford said she was in the room briefly on the night of Sept. 5.

Dukes told police she put the 5-month-old to bed around 11 p.m. The child was given a bottle just after 4 a.m. on Sept. 6 and went back to sleep. Benford arrived the motel room around 6:50 a.m.

According to police, Benford initially denied any drug use but then said the capsules found on the sink were probably hers. She allegedly said she’d begun using heroin six months prior and had taken drugs two days beforehand.

Police said an autopsy revealed the 5-month-old girl had fentanyl, fentanyl metabolites, cocaine, and cocaine metabolites in her brain and blood.

The other children in the hotel room were subjected to a urine screening. Police said each child had a cocaine metabolite in their system.

Dukes also underwent a urine screening, but no controlled substances were found in her system.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office charged both Dukes, now, 27, with one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child – death of a child and four counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Benford, now 49, was charged with five counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Once in custody, both women will be held without bond.