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Toddler's Fentanyl Death Leads To Manslaughter Charges For Long Island Couple

Prosecutors have filed upgraded charges of manslaughter against a Long Island couple whose toddler son died from a fentanyl overdose.

Fourteen-month-old Joseph Adonis died Wednesday, Jan 3, from a suspected fentanyl and cocaine overdose at a home in Holbrook.

Fourteen-month-old Joseph Adonis died Wednesday, Jan 3, from a suspected fentanyl and cocaine overdose at a home in Holbrook.

Photo Credit: Suffolk County District Attorney's Office

Wilkens Adonis and Daryllee Leibrock, both age 38, of Holbrook, were arraigned on the new manslaughter charges in Suffolk County Court on Monday, April 1.

The couple is already facing dozens of drug and weapons charges in connection with the death of 14-month-old Joseph Adonis.

According to the Suffolk County DA’s office, emergency crews were called to the couple’s Holbrook home on Wednesday morning, Jan. 3, for an unresponsive child. When they arrived, police found Adonis, Leibrock and their toddler son, Joseph, in the couple’s bedroom.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to prosecutors. An autopsy conducted by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that he died from acute mixed drug intoxication with a mixture of heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a powerful, synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The drug has led to a growing number of overdose deaths across the country, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Suffolk County Homicide Squad detectives searched the couple’s home, in which the couple’s 11-year-old child also lived, and found drugs in the bedroom where Joseph was found, prosecutors said.

A further search of the residence reportedly turned up a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, cocaine, and alprazolam, as well as drug packaging materials, and digital scales. Detectives also recovered a loaded shotgun, a rifle, and a stun gun.

All of the weapons were unsecured and easily accessible to the couple’s children, prosecutors said.

“Based on the results of the autopsy, the drugs and weapons allegedly found in the defendants’ apartment, and the location of those items, the defendants are now alleged to have recklessly caused the death of their son, Joseph Adonis,” said Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney.

At the time of the boy’s death, Leibrock was subject to orders of protection from Suffolk County Family Court prohibiting her from being around either child. She was also barred from possessing illegal drugs that created an “unreasonable risk” to their safety, according to investigators.

Adonis and Leibrock both had active warrants for failing to appear on unrelated drug charges at the time of their arrests in January 2024.

In November 2022, Leibrock and Wilkens were arrested after a traffic stop by New York State Police reportedly turned up cocaine, oxycodone, and heroin.

Following Monday’s arraignment, both defendants were held at the Suffolk County jail on $1 million bond each. They are due back in court on Tuesday, May 14. 

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