A St. Paul woman has admitted that she is responible for the fentanyl overdose death of her 1-year-old daughter.
Tessa Jean Vorlicky, 21, agreed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death in December 2023 of Mi’Vida Vorlicky.
The plea agreement between the defense and the prosecution calls for Vorlicky to received a four-year term when she is sentenced on March 31. She is expected to serve one-third of that time on supervised release.
Mi’Vida’s father, 27-year-old Derrick Harrison, was charged with child endangerment stemming from his role in the girl’s death. Harrison failed to show up for a hearing last week, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Police were called to the 300 block of Toronto Street in the West 7th neighborhood on Dec. 1, 2023. The 911 caller said Vorlicky and Harrison’s 1-year-old girl was gasping for air. A dispatcher heard Vorlicky scream, “Did you give her Narcan?”
Mi’Vida was transported to a hospital and given Narcan, used to treat opioid overdoses, but her condition worsened. Doctors declared Mi’Vida brain dead four days later. An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her cause of death as acute fentanyl toxicity.
Vorlicky’s mother, who lives downstairs, told police that her daughter and Mi’Vida lived in an upstairs bedroom with Harrison. Inside the home officers found dog feces on the floor, a glass pipe, Narcan, a bag with 0.23 grams of meth, more than 70 pieces of crumpled tinfoil with residue, a blue fentanyl pill, a computer tablet with fentanyl residue, 13 cut straws and six plastic baggies.
