St. Paul mother pleads guilty in daughter’s fatal overdose

A St. Paul mother pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter for her 7-year-old daughter's fatal fentanyl overdose.

Shauntaija Travis, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter by culpable negligence. If accepted, Travis' plea agreement would grant her sentence of three years while dismissing another manslaughter charge.

Za'Maiya Travis was found dead last March — days before she was scheduled to move in with a relative who reported concerns about the child's health to Ramsey County child protection officials.

A representative for family of Za'Maiya's father disagreed with the plea, according to court documents, saying the time served would be too low. Representatives for the mother's side don't want her to serve prison time at all.

Judge Jacob Kraus will decide whether to accept the plea during Travis' sentencing hearing on March 22.

Charging documents say officers and medics were sent to the Travis home about 6:40 a.m. on March 31 for a death. They arrived on the 800 block of Sherburne Avenue to find Za'Maiya dead on an air mattress. She was cold to the touch.

Shauntaija and her boyfriend were reportedly emotional and distressed, telling authorities that the child was alive when in bed about 2 a.m. but would not move when they tried to wake her for school hours later.

Officers searched the home and found straws with white powder residue, a baggie of suspected narcotics crumbs and a blue 30 mg oxycodone pill. Tests by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed that the straws contained cocaine and the pills contained fentanyl along with a chemical that acts as a precursor to fentanyl.

An autopsy of the 7-year-old confirmed her blood contained both chemicals found in that pill.

Shauntaija told officials that she abuses Percocet, explaining that she was prescribed the drug for her seizures. When that prescription ended, she turned to street drugs to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Travis said there was a 75% chance her daughter got into her drugs but added that she avoided taking them around the child.

A search warrant of Benjamin E. Mays IB World School in St. Paul, where Za'Maiya attended, unveiled a report of her suspected maltreatment that was documented in fall 2022. Za'Maiya said she was burned by her mother on her upper chest, but she didn't add more details.

"Staff only documented the incident after [Za'Maiya Travis'] death," charging documents read. "The school district refused to allow investigators to speak with staff about [her]."

It's not the first time a Minnesota child has died of an overdose.

In December 2020, 3-year-old Amier McDaniel died after overdosing on fentanyl in a drug dealer's West St. Paul apartment. His mother, 35-year-old Queenetta J. McDaniel of Maplewood, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 16.

In August 2022, 7-year-old Amonre Nelson Randolph, died from a fentanyl overdose in the family's Minneapolis home on the 1800 block of 44th Avenue N. His father, Nelson Randolph III, 45, was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

In September 2022, a 14-month-old boy fatally overdosed after ingesting illicit drugs that his parents left out in the family's Little Canada apartment. Ryder Compton's parents, Joseph T.E. Compton, 29, and Andrea N. Intveld, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and are serving prison sentences.

Star Tribune staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.