Baby Winter’s mother took ‘selfies’ with drugs in background: court documents

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A San Jose mother appeared in court Monday to face murder charges after her baby fatally overdosed on fentanyl at home.

Winter was 19 months old when she died on August 12, 2023 at 1550 Huddersfield Court. Her mother, Kelly Richardson, her father, Derek Rayo, and the parent’s live-in drug dealer, Philip Michael Ortega, are charged with murder for Winter’s fentanyl poisoning.

They have pleaded not guilty, and the trio is being held in jail without bail.

Before Richardson stands trial for murder, another trial will be held to re-determine her mental competency. On Monday, Judge Kelley Paul granted a motion filed by prosecutors seeking Richardson’s mental health records documenting her time in jail between January and the end of July. The records include psychiatric technician reports, psychological assessments, psychology progress, and written examinations of the 30-year-old woman.

Prosecutors said the parents and their drug dealer are linked “inextricably together in the crime of murder.” Richardson, Rayo, and Ortega “lived together in the five months leading to Winter Doe’s death, and each assumed a duty of care for Winter Doe in some capacity,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.

While Rayo was a stay-at-home dad and Ortega periodically filled-in as a babysitter, Winter’s mother had a job that required her to work in the evenings, court records state. Drug use within the home was prevalent, investigators said.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents, “Richardson’s phone contained photos … of defendant Rayo ‘nodded out’ due to drug use on the bed in close proximity to Winter Doe. Richardson also took ‘selfies’ with Winter Doe with drug paraphernalia or drug use visible in the background.”

In addition to seizing photographic evidence, investigators found text and social media messages documenting the trio’s communications. In Richardson’s messages, she allegedly expressed concerns about her baby’s wellbeing and potential drug exposure while Winter was being cared for by either Rayo or Oretga.

Court documents state, “Richardson confronted defendant Rayo in text messages and social media stating, for example, ‘ur passed out while watching (Winter) aren’t you.’ The evidence shows that, in addition to using narcotics herself, defendant Richardson regularly left (Winter) in the care of defendant Rayo despite knowing about the life-threatening danger that defendant Rayo posed to their daughter. Richardson also left Winter Doe in the care of defendant Ortega.”

Investigators found another text message that Richardson sent to Ortega before she left to go to work on June 16, 2023, court documents show. In the message, she asked Ortega if he had any methamphetamine for her.

Ortega replied, “Hey you guys see the rails out in the kitchen?” 

Richardson replied, “Omg where? Derek slept the whole time he was supposed to be watching (Winter) while I was at work. Are they still there?”

Oretga answered, “They were out there.” 

Rayo called 911 on August 12, 2023. The DA’s office wrote, “Winter’s parents waited more than 12 hours before calling 911 to report that their daughter was dead.”

Rayo told detectives that he may have rolled over on top of Winter while they were co-sleeping together in a bedroom.

Court documents state, “Winter Doe was located on the bed of the master bedroom with a rug folded over her dead body. On the nightstand next to Winter Doe, SJPD officers located a butane torch, white pill, powder residue, and scrape tools.”

A medical examiner’s autopsy concluded that the baby died from a toxic combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

A second baby in San Jose, 3-month-old Phoenix Castro, died from fentanyl poisoning just a few months before Winter. Her father, David Castro, and Ortega are charged with murder for the death of Baby Phoenix.

The DA’s office wrote, “Evidence shows that Castro sought and Ortega provided drugs to Castro the night before his daughter was found dead in the home. Ortega also provided the deadly drugs that led to the death of Baby Winter just 91 days later.”

District Attorney Jeff Rosen previously said, “The fact that the same man provided the fatal drugs that took the lives of Baby Phoenix and Baby Winter within a handful of months of each other is beyond shocking.”

A preliminary hearing for Castro and Ortega is scheduled to begin on August 25.