PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A mother has been charged with her son’s murder after Portsmouth Police said the boy was already dead when she took him to the hospital.
According to court documents, Kara M. Faulkner, 31, brought her 5-year-old son to Maryview Hospital around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, December 19.
ER nurses quickly realized the boy had been dead for several hours, according to paperwork. Medical staff pronounced the child dead 13 minutes after he arrived at the hospital.
Court paperwork went on to say one of the ER nurses approached Faulkner outside the ER when she told the nurse, “I was chilling with some friends last night and when he went to sleep, he was fine.”
When the staff asked if drugs were involved, court paperwork states Faulkner said, “I was with a dope dealer, so yeah probably.”
The mother later told detectives her son was around fentanyl and other drugs inside her AirBNB on Turnpike Road the night before.
Court papers said Faulkner paid a man identified as Darius "D" Jones, $300 for the fentanyl and he stayed at the home while she ran to Wawa for vape cartridges.
In the criminal complaint, a detective said Faulkner admitted she does lines on her phone but regularly disinfects her phone and coffee table after she cuts the drugs.
Faulkner was charged with contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, Child Neglect, Child Cruelty, Possession of a Schedule I or II Controlled Substance, as well as 2nd Degree Murder and Concealing/Moving a Corpse.
Meantime, her neighbors told News 3 reporter Antoinette DelBel, they’re sad to hear the boy died so close to the holidays.
Faulkner was arraigned on Tuesday, December 20. She is behind bars at Portsmouth City Jail. Her next court hearing is Thursday at 10 a.m. in JDR court.
According to court officials, she has some prior drug charges that were dismissed after she did some court-ordered supervised probation. In 2016, she was found guilty of two counts of petty larceny.
Anyone with information about this incident are urged to contact the PPD Investigations Bureau at 757–393–8536. Or call the Crime Line at 1–888-LOCK-U-UP.
News 3 is working to learn more details and will update this story.
