A judge sentenced a mother to 14 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter of her child who overdosed on drugs near Richmond, in what prosecutors said was “entirely preventable.”
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Richmond Township Fire Protection District responded around 10:50 a.m. on January 3, 2024, to a call for a medical emergency involving an unresponsive juvenile male in the 9600 block of Hillandale Road in unincorporated Richmond.
911 dispatchers indicated over the radio that someone was performing CPR on the juvenile, a 14-year-old.
Fire officials said paramedics initiated lifesaving treatment and were assisted by Mercyhealth MD-1.
Paramedics rushed the juvenile to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry where he was pronounced dead.
McHenry County Coroner Dr. Michael Rein identified the child as Trent Ullrich, 14, of Richmond.
An autopsy was performed on Ullrich on January 4, 2024. Toxicology and tissue samples were collected and sent for testing.
Rein said that the cause of the boy’s death was determined to be from the adverse effects of fentanyl and xylazine. The manner of death was deemed to be an accident, Rein added.
Following the child’s death, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office arrested the boy’s parents — Cara Ullrich, 46, Round Lake Beach, and Eric Ullrich, 52, of Richmond.
Both were indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance. Eric Ullrich was additionally charged with obstructing justice.
An investigation into the death by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office led to several full and used bags of narcotics containing heroin, fentanyl and cocaine throughout the residence.
McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashley Romito said Cara Ullrich had brought the illegal drugs, containing fentanyl and xylazine, into the home the day prior but had lost the substances.
Photographs and body-worn camera videos showed several full and used bags of narcotics containing heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, along with assorted narcotics paraphernalia, throughout the residence.
Cara Ullrich told others she had lost the drugs and she suspected Trent Ullrich had taken them, Romito said.
The mother reportedly attempted to wake up the child from his bed in the early morning hours on January 3, 2024.
Eric and Cara Ullrich removed the boy’s clothing after the mother was unable to wake him, Romito said.
They placed him into a shower where he was unable to stand, Romito said. He was brought downstairs while still naked and unconscious and placed on a couch.
He was discovered some 10 hours later unresponsive and emergency personnel were called.
Romito said that if proper medical attention had been provided to Trent Ullrich when he was first discovered unresponsive, he would have survived the overdose.
Eric Ullrich “consciously chose” not to obtain or provide medical treatment for his child during the overdose and did not call 911 until the father woke up the next morning over 10 hours later, prosecutors said.
Cara Ullrich also failed to obtain or provide medical treatment for her child, the indictment said.
Eric Ullrich “consistently” provided false information to investigators surrounding the death of his son, prosecutors said.
Eric Ullrich allowed the drugs to be brought into the home and he also possessed a substance containing cocaine, the indictment said.
The drugs were accessible and led to the 14-year-old boy overdosing, the indictment and a criminal complaint said.
Cara Ullrich entered into a blind plea deal with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office in February.
She pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of possession of a controlled substance in front of McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis.
Prosecutors dismissed the rest of her charges, including murder.
Davis on Friday sentenced Cara Ullrich to 14 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on the involuntary manslaughter charge, which is the maximum sentence.
Eric Ullrich, on the one year anniversary of the child’s death in January, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, a Class 2 felony, in exchange for the rest of his charges being dismissed.
He was also charged in a separate case in December for communicating with a witness, a Class 3 felony.
The communicating with a witness charge that Ullrich pleaded guilty to, in addition to the involuntary manslaughter charge, related to him communicating with his second child who lived in the Richmond home at the time of Trent Ullrich’s death.
Romito said the father had ongoing communication with the child from August 1 to November 24 while he was being held in the McHenry County Jail.
There were 41 calls during the timeframe and Romito said the father intended to deter the child from testifying “freely, fully and truthfully” in the murder case.
As part of his plea in January, he also pleaded guilty in that case.
Cook County emergency physician and medical toxicologist Steven Aks testified during a sentencing hearing for Eric Ullrich that the child would have survived if he had received medical attention during the overdose event.
“I think this is a really a tragic situation that happened,” Aks said. “In the home, if it [the minor’s overdose event] was correctly recognized and EMS was able to intervene… this was completely survivable.”
McHenry County Judge Christopher Harmon sentenced Eric Ullrich to 12 years in prison — nine years for involuntary manslaughter and three years for communicating with a witness — in late April.
“Parents have not only a moral duty, but a legal duty to protect and care for their children. This senseless and tragic death of a 14-year-old was entirely preventable had medical treatment been sought for this child,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese said.
“The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office continues to remain committed to the prosecution of all those involved in drug-related deaths that occur in our communities, especially those involving the most vulnerable – our children,” Freese said.