Frazier now faces murder charge

A Glenwood mother who has been charged with murder after allegedly giving her 8-year-old daughter a lethal dose of an antidepressant in 2016 entered a plea of not guilty at her arraignment in Mills County District Court Monday.

Misty Dawn Frazier, 34, who did not appear in court but had her written plea entered by her attorney, is charged with three felonies. Frazier was arrested Sept. 11 and initially charged with child endangerment resulting in death, a Class B felony, and distributing a drug to a minor without a prescription, a Class C felony. On Sept. 19, prosecutors added a charge of second-degree murder against Fraizer.

Second degree murder is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Child endangerment also carries a maximum 50 year prison sentence while distributing a drug to a minor without a prescription is punishable by a prison term of up to ten years and a maximum fine of $10,000.

The trial is set to for Dec. 12.

Frazier is being held in the Mills County Jail on a $60,000 bond.

Frazier is represented by Abby Davison, a public defender with the Office of the State Public Defender in Council Bluffs. Davison declined comment after the hearing.

Frazier’s parents, James and Cinda Frazier, were in the courtroom Monday but turned down an interview request.

In court filings, investigators allege Frazier caused the death of her daughter, Kathleen Marie “Kadie” Tafta, 8, on Oct. 19, 2016 by giving her a lethal dose of the antidepressant amitriptyline. The report goes on to say Frazier “knowingly acted in a manner that created a substantial risk to K.T.’s (Kadie is referred to as K.T. in official reports) physical safety by giving her non-prescribed amitriptyline pills over a prolonged period of time which subsequently caused toxic blood levels and resulted in death.”

Amitriptyline is a commonly prescribed but very powerful tricyclic antidepressant for those suffering from depression, insomnia and nerve pain.

Deputy State Medical Examiner Dr. Johnathan G. Thompson, who conducted Kadie’s autopsy, said in an affidavit that for the toxicity levels found in the 8-year-old’s system to achieve the level he detected, Kadie would have had to have received the amitriptyline “regularly over a long period of time.”