KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Leavenworth man was sentenced Wednesday to 11 and a half years in prison in connection with the drug overdose death of a 3-year-old child.
A judge sentenced Kenneth C. Hedgecock to 120 months for involuntary manslaughter and 18 months for aggravated endangering a child. The sentences will run consecutively to each other and to all his prior sentences, per a press release from Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson.
Hedgecock pleaded no contest to the charges on March 2.
He is the third defendant to be convicted in this case, along with Tara A. Huerta, 40, and Briana R.M. Davis, 30.
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“With all three defendants now convicted, this case highlights the serious risks fentanyl poses, especially to children,” Thompson said in a press release. “Careless actions can have tragic consequences, including the loss of an innocent child’s life. When adults bring these substances into a home, they put others at risk.”
Hedgecock and Huerta were in charge of caring for Davis’ 3-year-old boy, E’lah Damone Brown Jr., or EJ, at the time of his death. Davis left the child, who was asleep on the couch, with the pair on March 25, 2026.
On March 26, 2025, the Leavenworth Police Department was called to an apartment in the early morning hours. Chest compressions were performed on the unresponsive child, and he was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Hedgecock and Huerta both admitted to using drugs in the apartment with the child present and noticing he was “breathing differently” around midnight. The two adults checked on the child around 4:20 a.m. he was no longer breathing and they called 911, according to court documents.
An autopsy revealed his cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity.
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