Mom who found her kids, 10 and 14, unconscious in their home reveals their heartbreaking cause of death

A Maryland mom who found two of her children unconscious in her apartment has revealed their heartbreaking cause of death.

A mom found two of her kids unconscious in their home. Credit: Catherine McQueen / Getty

Kate Jones, a 33-year-old truck driver and mother of three, had spent the night of January 15, 2024, coloring and watching a movie with her son Gaige Dehaven, 10, while her daughters, Skylar Alicemarie Jones-Miller, 14, and Allyson, 12, played in their room.

That night, Gaige, who was especially close to his big sister, left his bed to sleep in Skylar’s room, something he often did. By the next morning, both were found dead.

Authorities say the siblings died from fentanyl exposure. The source of the drug remains unknown, but the tragedy has left their family shattered and searching for answers.

“Skylar, my oldest – that’s my best friend. The one who made me a mom,” Jones said, per PEOPLE. “And my son was my mama’s boy.”

The mother-of-three had left for work around 10AM on January 16, believing the kids were still asleep. Hours later, her truck broke down in the cold and this forced her to cut her shift short.

On Jones’ way home, she received a chilling message from her daughter Allyson that said that her siblings weren’t waking up.

“I said, ‘Are they breathing?’” she recalled. “I get to the house, I run up the steps. I opened the door and I looked in, and of course I knew – a 12-year-old little girl’s not going to know, but I knew.”

Jones immediately told Allyson to call 911 and fetch her grandparents, who also lived in the home.

The distraught mother and her father tried CPR on both children. When paramedics arrived, her mom, Kathy, said responders seemed to realize that the teen couldn’t be revived but tried to save Gaige. It was too late, as both children were pronounced dead at the scene.

A warrant was executed, and police took cell phones and drug paraphernalia from the home, including what Kathy described as a “baggie” that was next to Skylar.

The bag was empty, and the family still doesn’t know how it got there. “When they told me what they found, I knew,” Jones said. “It was some kind of overdose.”

Nearly two months later, the autopsy report confirmed that her beloved children had passed away from fentanyl. “My son was 10, and my daughter was only 14. Nobody expects to hear that your babies have fentanyl in their system,” she said.

Jones and her mother believe the drugs may have come from another student at Skylar’s school, though police have not made any arrests. The Maryland State Police confirmed the investigation is ongoing.

Jones remembers her daughter as a bright teen with big dreams and her son as “an all-American little boy” who loved dinosaurs and had a heart of gold.

The heartbreak didn’t stop there as just months later, Gaige’s biological father, James Dehaven, died by suicide in November 2024.

Jones said James, who was close with Skylar, had struggled deeply with grief after losing the kids. His mother’s death soon after only worsened his pain.

She explained that although James had struggled with addiction in the past, he was in recovery when the children died. The kids, she said, never saw “any active addiction,” and she added that they were no longer a couple at the time of his death.

Now, the grandparents are caring for 13-year-old Allyson, who is in therapy and doing well. Meanwhile, Jones is receiving treatment for her mental health and is not currently living with the family – though she talks to Allyson every day.

“She’s struggling,” Kathy said of her daughter. “She went from a mother of three to a mother of one, and her and Skylar were very tight,” adding that “being well for Ally is the most important”.

The family is now focused on honoring Gaige and Skylar. In November, they donated baby blankets to a hospital for newborns who shared the kids’ birthday. They also hope to install memorial benches and establish a scholarship at Perryville High School in their memory.

Jones is now urging parents to talk to their children, no matter how young or responsible they may seem.

“It could be your kid any day. Your kid could be just an honor roll student in AP classes,” she said. “Your son could be just playing on monkey bars or skating or riding his bike with his friends the day before and then … you just never know.”