Fentanyl found ‘all over’ baby Phoenix’s pink-flowered onesie; father denied bail on felony charge
Relatives implored the judge to deny bail, fearful dad could endanger his two older children
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Phoenix Castro’s father was denied bail on a felony child endangerment charge on Monday, as new court filings shed light on how the 3-month-old girl could have ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl while in the care of her father.
Fentanyl was found “all over” the pink-flowered onesie she was wearing when she died on May 13, including around the neck area, according to a crime lab analysis.
Several family members fought back tears as they read letters pleading with Superior Court Judge Christopher Rudy to keep Phoenix’s father, David Castro, in jail, emphasizing that he still has visitation rights with his two older children, now three and four, who live with their maternal grandmother. Emily De La Cerda, the baby’s mother, died of a fentanyl overdose four months after Phoenix died.
“If he has fentanyl on his hands… they could also be exposed,” Rita De La Cerda, the grandmother, told the judge.
The case of baby Phoenix has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Bay Area News Group, which discovered that Santa Clara County’s child welfare agency ignored numerous red flags when it released her from the hospital with her father while her mother was in jail and receiving treatment after giving birth.
Two years earlier, the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services had removed the couple’s other two children. Both parents tested positive for cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamines just two months before Phoenix was born with drugs in her system.
The day before Phoenix was released from the hospital, a social worker assigned to the case of the older children warned higher-ups that the infant could die in the care of her father. Regardless, Phoenix was sent home with Castro.
Police discovered fentanyl in the kitchen and broken glass pipes on the kitchen counter next to the baby’s baby bottle the day Phoenix died.
The case has sparked outrage among social workers, who claim their hands have been tied as county lawyers have played a disproportionate role in determining whether children should remain with their families or be removed as part of a strategy shift to keep more families together.
Other revelations were made during Monday’s hearing. Castro told police in October that he would time his drug use around social workers’ planned visits to his home, where they would test him for drugs, according to Deputy District Attorney Maria Gershenovich. According to documents obtained by this news organization, he failed to answer the door on at least two occasions when a social worker arrived and knocked.
Emily’s cousin Deanna De La Cerda told the judge Monday that after the baby died, authorities told family members to stay away from the drug-filled San Jose apartment because it was “toxic.”
They weren’t even supposed to touch Emily’s body because fentanyl residue made her dangerous to others, she claimed.
Gershenovich told the judge on Monday that Castro was so careless with Phoenix that her “onesie was covered in fentanyl.”
She argued that Castro should not be released on bail because of his long history of drug abuse, endangering his daughter, and multiple failures to appear in court.
According to defense attorney Brian Matthews, the court could order Castro to stay at home, require a GPS device, deny him visits with his older children, or place him in a drug treatment program in order to release him from jail without jeopardizing public safety.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Rudy ruled that the only way to protect Castro’s older children was to keep him in jail.
Before the hearing, relatives and friends gathered outside the courtroom in a prayer circle to honor the baby’s Native American ancestry. Following the hearing, the De La Cerda family expressed relief that Castro would remain imprisoned for the time being.
Castro had already “slipped through the cracks so many times,” according to Monica Rodriguez, Emily’s cousin. But she hoped that things would be different this time.
“Justice is only beginning,” she stated.
