Woman charged with 12-year-old daughter's death from fentanyl overdose in Joliet in 2024

A woman has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter, accused of causing her 12-year-old daughter's death from a drug overdose in Joliet in 2024.

Colette Bancroft, 37, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Police said, on April 14, 2024, officers responded to a report of an unresponsive girl at a home in the 1500 block of East Washington Street. They found Bancroft's 12-year-old daughter unresponsive in a bedroom she shared with her mother, and began performing CPR and using Narcan to try to revive her until paramedics arrived.

The girl was taken to Silver Cross Hospital, and later transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, where she was pronounced dead three days later.

Investigators believe the girl had ingested heroin and fentanyl. Officers recovered heroin and fentanyl from Bancroft's purse.

At the time, Bancroft was arrested on drug possession charges. Following a lengthy investigation that confirmed the girl had fentanyl in her system at the time of her death, police arrested Bancroft on Saturday.

Will County prosecutors are seeking to have Bancroft held in jail while she awaits trial.