19-month-old baby dies after ingesting fentanyl

“Enora is dead”, shouted Lydie Lavenir in August 2021, in the four-bedroom house in Wellington, Florida, which the family had rented on Airbnb. 19-month-old Enora’s face was blue and white foam was coming out of her mouth, reported The Washington Post who looked into the case on March 3. Despite a cry for help, it was too late, Enora was already dead. The medical examiner’s autopsy and an independent toxicology report later revealed that the baby’s body contained a lethal amount of fentanyla drug the French family said they had never heard of.

In two and a half years, no one has managed to figure out how Enora could get hold of the synthetic opioid, so potent that a small amount can kill. Investigators found no trace of fentanyl in the vacation rental. And if they had, for a time, suspected the parents, no drugs had been found in their belongings, and their tests had turned out to be negative. Although no criminal charges were brought, family sues Airbnbthe owner and the rental manager.

Total uncertainty about the origin of the drug

But not only, since the previous tenant is also sued by Lydie and Boris Lavenir. According to them, the latter, who admitted to having organized a party where there was cocaine, would have let the revelers into the accommodation with fentanyl and would not have cleaned up afterwards. Immediately after the death of the little girl, the family had not suspected that there could be a link with a drug. She had concluded that it was probably Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The same goes for investigators who retraced the family’s steps, tested the baby’s bottle, reviewed his medical history and inspected his body for bruises. They didn’t find anything either. But as the child’s father concluded: “What is certain is that Enora had contact with fentanyl in the Airbnb.” For its part, the platform indicated to the washington post : “Our hearts go out to the Lavenir family and their loved ones for their devastating loss.”