Tulsa police say a routine trespassing call turned into a child-endangerment case after officers found 31-year-old Martell Kirkland asleep in a car with 36-year-old Skylar Simon and three children, surrounded by drugs that included a bag containing more than a gram of fentanyl. The pair now face charges of child neglect, fentanyl trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both were taken into custody.
According to KOKI FOX 23, officers responded to the trespassing call outside the Savanna Landing Apartments near 60th and Owasso on Wednesday morning. When they arrived, they found Kirkland asleep in the car with Simon and the three children also inside the vehicle. Police said Simon is the mother of all three children, while Kirkland is the father of one of them.
Officers reported that drugs and paraphernalia were scattered throughout the car, with items within arm's reach of the children. Among the items recovered was a bag containing more than one gram of fentanyl, the station's report states. Tulsa police said the two adults now face charges after allegedly leaving drugs accessible to the children in their care.
Why Even a Small Amount Can Be Deadly
The quantity involved in this case may sound small, but federal officials say fentanyl's lethality depends in part on a person's weight. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, producing illicit fentanyl is not an exact science, and as little as two milligrams can be lethal depending on a person's body size, tolerance and past usage — a fraction of the amount police say was found inside the car.
That risk has become a growing public health concern across Oklahoma. From 2020 to 2023, fentanyl overdose deaths in the state increased nearly six-fold, climbing from 127 deaths to 730, per the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Children have been among the fatal overdose victims statewide, according to the Tulsa World, which also reports that authorities have seized enough illicit fentanyl in recent years to wipe out Oklahoma's entire population multiple times over.
State Lawmakers Have Moved to Address Exposure Risk
Oklahoma's chief drug law enforcement officer told the Tulsa World he sees no immediate reversal of the climbing overdose numbers tied to fentanyl. State lawmakers have been responding to similar concerns about children's exposure to the drug: the Oklahoma Senate said Senate Bill 633 would expand the definition of a drug-endangered child to include kids exposed, or at risk of exposure, to fentanyl or its analogs because of a caregiver's possession, use, distribution or manufacture of the substance, according to a statement from the Oklahoma Senate.
Cases involving children and fentanyl exposure are not unique to Oklahoma. In Ohio, authorities arrested a Columbus woman wanted in connection with the death of her 17-month-old daughter, who died after ingesting fentanyl, according to OKC FOX. The Tulsa case remains under investigation, and no additional details about the children's condition or placement have been released.
