Tacoma police have arrested the mother of a 12-year-old girl who died last month after she overdosed on her mother’s methadone.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Jane Elizabeth Griffith, 47, today with one count of controlled substance homicide. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance this afternoon.
Prosecutors allege Griffith, a recovering heroin addict, gave her daughter some of her methadone because Jessica J. Griffith was in pain after injuring her knee.
Jessica J. Griffith – who also was known as Jessica J. Wood – and her mother had been staying temporarily with relatives in the 4800 block of Nassau Avenue Northeast last month. The girl’s aunt found her unresponsive and not breathing about noon of Oct. 18 and called 911.
Paramedics arrived and pronounced Jessica Griffith dead. Tacoma police detectives responded to the Northeast Tacoma home because of the suspicious circumstances of the girl’s death.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office recently ruled that Jessica Griffith died of acute methadone intoxication.
As part of their investigation, detectives talked to the girl’s aunt and cousin. The aunt told investigators that Jane Griffith left her home about 6 a.m. Oct. 18 to go to her methadone clinic. At that time, Jessica was awake and talking to her cousin, charging documents state.
Jessica, who’d recently injured her knee, was allowed to stay home from school that Monday. The aunt reported that she checked on the girl at 10:30 a.m. and she appeared to be sleeping normally. She went in again at noon and found Jessica not breathing.
The cousin told investigators that Jessica Griffith was unusually drowsy the night before her death. Jessica said her mother had given her some methadone because of her injured knee, court documents state.
The morning of Oct. 18, Jessica Griffith seemed “out of it” and told her cousin that her mother gave her more methadone, charging documents state.
Jane Griffith initially told Tacoma detectives she took her entire Sunday dose of methadone on Oct. 17 and that she didn’t give any to Jessica.
“Griffith told detectives she would not give JG any because ‘I am on such a high dose, I wouldn’t even know how much to give her … It is too strong,’” charging documents state.
During an interview Tuesday, Jane Griffith admitted to detectives that she gave some of her Sunday methadone dose to her daughter.
“Griffith said she administered the drug to JG Sunday night and again Monday morning,” charging documents state. “Griffith was arrested.”
The gene pool gets a little more shallow every day. Acute poisoning doesn;t mean a taste or a little dose, it would mean a massive amount. Something just doesn’t add up. If guilty, send her away with all the other swimmers.
@wcdrat – just to let you know, Acute poisoning for a small child that is under 100 lbs compared to Acute poisoning for a grown adult are different. A normal dose for an adult can be Acute for a small child, yet a normal amount of medicine for a child can be quite small compared with an adult. Just sayin’
Yeah, how many 12 yr old girls have you seen lately less than 100 pounds?
@ ronniew
I am assuming you mean “seen lately WEIGHING less than 100 pounds”…
And the answer would be most of them. Most girls between 6th and 7th grade weigh somewhere between 75 and 100lbs. It really isn’t until puberty that they jump above 100. Just sayin…
HalfofJ2: Who died and made you the grammar Nazi? “It really isn’t until puberty that they jump above 100″ 100 what? They jump 100 feet, 100 inches? What? What? Take a deep breath and relax…….Just sayin…..
J2 — Right. Quit looking at the charts. If you go to the Tacoma Mall you’ll see more 100+ pound 10-yr old girls that you care to.
The mother is a reckless idiot for doing this.Drug addicts cause their own problems and blame others.She will have lots of time to get clean in Purdy.
To set the record straight, Jessica was around 100lbs or less. Why are you bickering about how much she weighed or didn’t weigh. It sounds like none of you even knew her. And to Alaska47, Jessica’s mother isn’t blaming anyone but herself. Let’s put this back in perspective, this is a terrible tragedy, a sweet, nice young girl is dead. She was somebody’s child, grandchild, family and friend, show some respect.
kaw123 — the only reason weight came up is someone brought up the thought that maybe the normal dose her mother gave her was way too much because she was a small child.
I don’t see any comments disrespecting the poor girl. It’s the POS mother who will be the target of the public’s fury. If we weren’t so easy on drug addicts the mother would have been in jail where she belongs and the child would still be alive.
I’m 6′, 265lbs. I recently was given a small round white methadone pill about the size of an asprin – I took a small bite of it, and was about knocked off my feet, I was stagging all over the house.
BTW, she’ll be spending her time at the WCCW in Gig Harbor – which is not anywhere near Purdy.
Unfortunately, it won’t be too long before the mother’s attorney and friends will be saying ‘she’s suffered enough, with the loss of a child’ and that she should be set free without charges, a trial or any imprisonment. Alternatively, she’ll try to use the ‘diminished capacity’ excuse, saying her ‘condition’ (drug addict on methadone) caused her to be incapable of thinking clearly and resulted in her giving methadone to a child (thinking it was just like aspirin for pain). Yet, she initially lied to detectives about it, thus proving knowledge and intent to provide the methadone (twice).
In the end, unless she immediately pleads guilty and doesn’t try to deal for a suspended sentence or ‘counseling’ in lieu of prison, then we will all know there is no remorse or recognition of personal responsibility and it will just be ‘all about her’.
such a sad story! I just don’t understand how she could have thought that she could give her child methadone….thats a dangerous drug man! Thats why they have methadone clinics…as far as I know they don’t say “ok..you can go home..and here is a prescription for 30 methadone tablets”. I guess someone should have told her Tylenol or Advil would work on a sore knee!
Rest in peace child…you can’t be hurt anymore!
I would love to know what weight has to do with any of this.
Methadone is NEVER prescribed to anyone under 18 yrs old for any reason. The mere fact that the mother was even on methadone speaks volumes to her ability to make good choices where her children are concerned. Leaving these children in the homes of addicted & untreated parents is only asking for something more serious to happen to them. If we as a society would re-directed the millions spent on enforcement into treatment options, the possibility exists that we may save some of these children caught in this hell before it was to late. We can not remove all of the children at risk, there are far to many of them. So we better start looking at long term solutions for a generation of meth and heroin addicted citizens or we will all reap the benefits of blatant disregard for their welfare. They become predators in their own rights not having been protected or loved as young children, and we being blind and judgemental to the problem just makes us victims of these kids down the road. How in the he** we expect kids that were never taught right from wrong and violated as children to know how to make good decisions is so wrong, I can’t even understand that. Addiction is everyone’s problem, sooner or later. Either as a victim of it, offspring married to it, or family/friends involved in it.
Insanity: doing the same thing the same way and EXPECTING a different result.
One of the saddest parts is that the father tried so hard to get custody of Jessica. The courts knew that the mother was on methadone yet allowed her to have custody of her children, yes Jessica has an older sister. I am well aware of the situation as I know these people. I loved Jessica as if she were my own, my heart is broken knowing what has happened. My only consoling factor is that Jessica is no longer suffering and is with our Lord and someday I will see her smiling face again. My prayers go out to her father, sisters, grandmother, aunts, cousins and many friends. Her mother has been an addict long before Jessica was even born. Her herion usage is what drove the father away in the first place (he didn’t even know he had a little girl until months after she was born and then found out through a friend).