Kentucky boy linked to recent strawberry fundraiser died from fentanyl, coroner says

The 8-year-old boy whose death led to a warning about school fundraiser strawberries actually died from fentanyl intoxication, Hopkins County Coroner Dennis Mayfield told the Herald-Leader Wednesday.

Mayfield said he did not know how Trey Harris got the fentanyl, which killed him on March 15.

At the time, the Hopkins County Health Department asked people who bought strawberries through the fundraiser to throw them away. It was thought the fruit may have contributed to his death in some way.

But this week, the Hopkins County Health Department received the results from the FDA and state lab concerning the strawberries from the school fundraiser, Director Denise Beach said in a statement.

“Testing of the strawberries was reported as negative today by the State Epidemiologist. The state Food and Safety Branch has also reviewed the reports,” Beach’s statement said.

The Madisonville Police Department previously said the child’s parents told them he had eaten “several strawberries from a school fundraiser,” and “he began showing signs of an allergic reaction primarily manifested with a rash.”

The parents said they gave him Benadryl and soaked him in a bath, but when the symptoms didn’t improve, they took him to the emergency room March 14 and left early the next morning to go home, the police department said in a news release.

“The 8-year-old changed his clothes and went to bed,” the release stated. “The family attempted to wake him up for school later that morning and discovered he was unresponsive.”

Police said they were called to the home at about 6:30 a.m. March 15 because the child was not breathing, but the family had already taken him back to the hospital before they arrived, police said. He was pronounced dead soon after, police said.

A man media reports identified as Trey’s stepfather, Antonio Person, 33, has been charged with second degree manslaughter, trafficking in fentanyl and drug and gun charges, according to jail and court records.

He is being held at the Hopkins County Jail.