San José Parents Convicted of Murder in Baby’s Fentanyl Overdose

In a first-of-its-kind verdict in Santa Clara County, a jury has convicted two San José parents of murder in the fentanyl overdose death of their 18-month-old daughter, Winter Rayo.

Derek Vaughn Rayo and Kelly Gene Richardson were both found guilty of second-degree murder, as well as of multiple child endangerment felonies and enhancements in a San José courtroom Friday afternoon.

The couple was the first parents in the county to ever be charged, and now convicted, with murdering their own child with drugs, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.

Rayo and Richardson were charged in connection with the Aug. 12, 2023, death of Winter. Authorities said that the couple waited more than 11 hours before calling 911 to report her death, and that the baby had 25 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream at the time.

The couple could face up to life sentences.

“Fentanyl kills,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement Friday evening. “In this case, the powerful opioid was left around this toddler like a loaded gun. The criminal recklessness of these two defendants killed their own child. I thank the jury for giving that child’s tragically short life some meaning.”

The DA’s office also charged Phillip Ortega of Gilroy and Paige Vitale of San José with murder, on allegations they provided Winter’s parents with “a steady supply of opioids” and shared the drugs with them, and that the home where Winter lived was littered with drugs and paraphernalia.

A judge in 2024 dismissed the murder charge against Vitale, who was ultimately charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor child endangerment, according to The Mercury News.

Ortega’s murder case is still pending, officials said. Ortega is also charged with murder due to his alleged role as a drug dealer in the fentanyl overdose death of another baby, Phoenix Castro, who also died in 2023 in a home with drug-addicted parents.

Castro’s mother later died, and her father, David Anthony Castro, is also charged with murder.