ACME Pa. — The parents of a 15-month-old baby are being held at the Westmoreland County Jail, a year after the child was found dead. Police said the mother’s breast milk ultimately led to the death of her child.
“This is just horrific,” said Trooper Steve Limani with the Pennsylvania State Police. ”Could you imagine being an infant and literally your only form of surviving is to have breast milk, but the breast milk has meth in it?”
Michael Blasser, 34, and Ashley Makarsky, 31, are facing several charges after police were called to their Mount Pleasant Township home in February of last year.
When they arrived, they found fesses covering the ground and walls. The home was only 28 degrees, had no running water and no food. They also found 15-month-old Thomas Blasser purple in color and not breathing.
“Our children are our most precious commodity,” said Trooper Limani. “So if that’s what you’re doing to your most precious commodity, it just speaks to the whole of how you are as a human being.”
It was later revealed that Thomas died of toxicity of meth. Markarsky was breastfeeding him and police say she tested positive for methamphetamine along with several other drugs.
It was also revealed that Thomas had been dead long before 911 was called. A two-year-old was also taken from the home. Although alive, lab results showed he too had recently ingested fentanyl. Police say the two-year-old had survived a similar scenario with breast milk in 2022.
“Makarsky had another child previously, and that child also went through some of these similar scenarios. Now, that child did not pass away, but the child was in children’s hospital and was also going through an ingestion of breast milk that had methamphetamine in it,” Limani said.
Blasser and Markarsky were arrested on Monday, over a year after police came to their home.
“People in general like to see swifter justice. Unfortunately, you have to make sure you do a really good job with the investigation and then taking all the toxicology reports and digging through the history to show that a person should have knowledge that you shouldn’t conduct yourself this way, so they can’t say ‘I didn’t know any better,’” Limani said.
A preliminary hearing set for Wednesday, March 25th.
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