8 Years In Prison For Asbury Park Mom Whose Son Died Of Drug Overdose

ASBURY PARK, NJ — An Asbury Park woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for being responsible for the overdose death of her 2-year-old son earlier this year, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced Saturday.

Quanique Smith, 27, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before she is eligible for parole.

Shortly after 1 a.m. on Thursday, January 5, members of the Asbury Park Police Department responded to an apartment on the 100 block of Langford Street on a report of an unresponsive child.

At that location they found the child, who was rushed to a local hospital, where despite lifesaving efforts he was pronounced deceased shortly before 2 a.m.

Quantities of heroin and fentanyl belonging to Smith had been left in the family’s home, within reach of the 2-year-old and his 5-year-old sibling, with the former child ingesting the drugs that directly caused his death.

Smith was arrested later that same day. In May, she pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter.

This case was investigated by Detective Stephen Cavendish of the Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Crimes Bureau and Asbury Park Police Detective Anthony Houlis and prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Dugan. Smith was represented by public defender Allison Friedman, Esq., with an office in Freehold.