A 3-year-old girl who thought she’d found her mother dead may have saved her life when medics discovered the woman had overdosed on heroin.
Emergency crews were dispatched just after 10 a.m. when Ernest Fannin called to report that his 3-year-old great-granddaughter had come to his home to tell him that her “mommy had died,” the sheriff’s office said.
Fannin said he went to Mary Dulen’s home and found her on the bathroom floor, unresponsive.
Relatives who were also called helped Fannin shake Dulen and get her to her feet.
Dulen told Champaign County deputies and emergency medical services personnel that she had injected herself with heroin Monday morning after bathing.
After her admission to authorities about the heroin, deputies said they found a used syringe in the bathroom and other items of drug abuse.
Dulen was taken to the Tri-County Jail on a felony charge of drug possession and misdemeanor charges of inducing panic, having drug abuse instruments and child endangerment.
