A Marion County judge sentenced an Indianapolis mother to 12 years on Wednesday, six of them behind bars, after her 10-month-old daughter died from fentanyl intoxication in July 2024. Skyra Irby found Sanyla Irby cold to the touch in her pack n play and tried CPR before rushing her to an Indianapolis hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead.
The sentence breaks down to six years executed in the Indiana Department of Correction and six years suspended, according to WISH-TV. Irby must also serve two years of probation, undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment, and complete parenting classes. Marion County prosecutors had pushed for all 12 years to be served in prison, the station reports.
Sanyla's autopsy listed the cause of death as complications of fentanyl intoxication and classified the manner of death as accidental, per the same account. Court documents cited by WRTV alleged that Irby never told hospital staff her baby might have ingested narcotics.
From a Neglect Charge to a Lesser Conviction
Irby was originally charged in April 2025 with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, the most serious charge prosecutors could bring in the case. She was ultimately convicted of the lesser offense of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, according to the station's report.
Investigators traced the narcotics to an apartment on Sebring Court, where a detective obtained a search warrant and found a backpack containing blue M30 pills — tablets that are typically made with fentanyl. A lab report on the apartment identified the narcotics recovered there as fentanyl, heroin, marijuana and bromazolam, per the same WISH-TV account.
Eviction Notice Preceded the Search
The apartment's tenants had prompted numerous narcotics complaints before they were evicted on Aug. 7, and investigators executed their search warrant there on Aug. 15, the station notes. Irby had told an Indiana Department of Child Services family case manager that her own address was on Centurion Circle, where the incident involving Sanyla took place.
A detective also requested a full toxicology report on Sanyla as part of the investigation, according to the article. The case echoes another prosecuted in Indianapolis: Tyrone Boyd was sentenced to 42 years in prison after being convicted of neglect of a dependent in connection with his son's drug-related death, Fox59 reported. In that 2020 case, police responded to an apartment on the 6000 block of Newberry Road after a three-year-old was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at Riley Hospital, with toxicology reports identifying fentanyl, dextromethorphan and norfentanyl in the child's system.
A Statewide Pattern Among Young Children
Sanyla's death fits into a broader pattern tracked by state officials. Fifty-nine children died from caregiver abuse or neglect in Indiana in 2024, including 18 from abuse and 41 from neglect, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. The Indiana Department of Child Services reviewed 276 child fatalities that year, with caregiver maltreatment accounting for roughly 20% of the total.
Forty-two of those victims, or 71%, were younger than age 3, the outlet reports. Poisonings ranked among the leading factors identified in the state's review, alongside asphyxia, drownings and unsafe sleep conditions, and several young children died directly from acute cocaine, fentanyl or methamphetamine toxicity, according to the Capital Chronicle's reporting on the state data.
