Parents Charged With Murder After Toddler Dies in Fentanyl Poisoning

A 2-year-old girl died inside a family apartment on the 3800 block of 18th Street, and San Francisco prosecutors have responded with an extraordinary charge: second-degree murder against her parents, Michelle Price, 38, and Steve Ramirez, 43.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the amended complaint reflects investigators’ view that this was more than a tragic overdose. The child was found unresponsive after a 911 call on the morning of February 12, and medics pronounced her dead at the scene. Paramedics observed rigor mortis and lividity, signs that suggested she had been dead for hours before help arrived. The medical examiner ruled the death acute fentanyl toxicity.

Prosecutors say the facts show conscious disregard for human life, the standard that separates implied malice from ordinary negligence. Investigators reported fentanyl and drug paraphernalia scattered around the apartment, and court records say Narcan was also present. That detail matters in the prosecution’s theory: adults in the home allegedly knew fentanyl was there, knew it was dangerous, and still left it accessible to a toddler. Jenkins said this was the first homicide case her office had filed in San Francisco in connection with a fatal fentanyl overdose.

The original case had been filed as felony child endangerment and drug possession. NBC Bay Area also reported that Ramirez faced an additional allegation of resisting, obstructing and delaying a peace officer in the earlier complaint. Court documents described Price as sedated, with droopy eyes, slurred speech and an emotionless demeanor, while Ramirez allegedly fled the apartment on a bicycle as officers responded. The pair later missed a court hearing after the amended complaint was filed, and judges issued bench warrants.

The move to murder charges is a major escalation because prosecutors are no longer framing the death as a tragic lapse in judgment. They are saying the parents’ conduct rose to the level of implied malice, meaning they allegedly acted with a reckless indifference to a known, deadly risk.

That theory will likely meet a defense centered on intent and causation. Defense lawyers may argue the death was a catastrophic overdose, not a killing, and that child endangerment or possession charges better fit the facts. They may also press the lack of obvious physical trauma, noted in reporting about the case, and challenge whether the evidence proves murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case lands in a city that has increasingly treated fentanyl deaths as homicide-style investigations. San Francisco launched a joint opioid-death task force in October 2023 with the Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard, aiming to document death scenes and build cases where the evidence supports homicide charges. The city reported 621 preliminary accidental overdose deaths in 2025, after 606 confirmed unintentional fatal drug overdoses in 2024 and 805 in 2023.

With a toddler dead, narcotics in plain reach, and murder charges now on the table, the case is poised to become a template for how prosecutors handle fentanyl deaths inside homes.