Mark Geremia, 32, of Northfield

LONDONDERRY – Police reports and court paperwork filed in the cases of Mark Geremia and Shawna Cote, the couple charged with exposing their 21-month-old daughter to a fatal amount of fentanyl, document a harrowing series of events that investigators allege took place in the hours leading up to the girl’s death.

Geremia, 23, whose last known address is 13 Cottage St. in Northfield, and Cote, 29, who lists addresses of 75 Franklin St. in Laconia and 29 Chestnut St. in Tilton, were taken into custody this week following a multi-agency police investigation that got underway the morning of Nov. 16, when Londonderry police and medical personnel were summoned to a Route 93 truck stop for a report of an unconscious and unresponsive child.

A police sergeant who was on patrol nearby arrived at the RMZ Truck Stop on Rockingham Road within a minute of hearing the radio call, officials said at the time.

He found the girl, who was just 21 months old, in a car and initiated CPR. Paramedics took over life-saving efforts and rushed the girl to a local hospital, but she would soon be pronounced dead.

The cause of death, according to the results of the autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner, was “acute fentanyl intoxication.”

Shawna Cote, 29, of Tilton

The warrants investigators issued for Geremia and Cote listed a total of 19 charges, 11 of which were filed against Geremia.

Geremia’s charges include one count each of negligent homicide, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, falsifying physical evidence, and conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence, all Class B felonies; three counts, possession of child sexual abuse images, Class A felonies; one count, manslaughter, a special felony; two counts, endangering the welfare of a child, and one count, receiving stolen property, Class A misdemeanors.

The charges against Cote include one count, manslaughter, a special felony; one count each, negligent homicide, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, falsifying physical evidence, and conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence, Class B felonies; and two counts, endangering the welfare of a child; and one count, receiving stolen property, Class A misdemeanors.

The three possession of child sexual abuse images charges against Geremia accuse him of possessing “a visual representation,” described as a JPG photo file, of female children “under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct … .”

The alleged victims are identified in court documents as “A.G.” and “Ab.G” – Geremia and Cote’s late daughter and her sister.

Geremia and Cote were jailed on $10,000 cash bail each following their arrests. The status of their bail as determined at Wednesday’s scheduled arraignments in Rockingham County Superior Court wasn’t immediately available, nor was their next court dates.

Meanwhile, the little girl’s death the morning of Nov. 16 marked the tragic end of a short life lived in less-than-ideal conditions, according to investigators’ reports filed in court.

One of the nurses on duty when A.G. arrived at the hospital that morning described her as “very dirty … with dirt/sand in her hair, dirt under her fingernails … and a full diaper,” according to investigators.

Her “general appearance was referred to as ‘cachectic,'” which refers to a disorder marked by extreme weight loss and muscle wasting.

“She was frail, and (had) poor hygiene,” police wrote.

Her 5-year-old sister, who was brought to the hospital for evaluation given the circumstances, reportedly had an “upper respiratory illness or a cold,” police wrote, and “was also observed to have poor hygiene.”

One nurse told investigators that “there was lots of emotion surrounding the incident amongst staff” at the hospital. The nurse “described A.G.’s whole body as dirty,” police wrote, adding that she recalled seeing A.G.’s “bare left foot that was dirty.”

The nurse told police “she took part in cleaning A.G.’s bare left foot out of respect for the little girl.”

The series of events that filled what would turn out to be the girl’s final hours began the previous day, when her parents, Geremia and Cote, put her and her sister in Geremia’s beat-up, trash-filled pickup truck and headed toward Massachusetts to allegedly purchase heroin or fentanyl.

Along for the ride was a 25-year-old friend of the couple, who, they later told police, had just gotten out of jail.

He told police that they drove to Massachusetts, where Geremia allegedly traded an all-terrain vehicle for drugs, which are alternately referred to as heroin and fentanyl.

He, Geremia and Cote “began doing” the drugs shortly after they bought them, the friend told police.

On the drive back, they got off Route 93 at Exit 5 in Londonderry and parked at the TMZ truck stop to get some sleep, according to police.

The each “did another line” of drugs, and the friend said he fell asleep, but awoke to Geremia allegedly “panicking,” and allegedly heard Geremia shout “she’s dead.”

The friend said he gave Cote some Narcan he happened to have with him, but attempts to administer it to A.G. failed.

By then, the friend told police, they allegedly believed that A.G. had ingested some of the drugs.

Cote, meanwhile, told police she also awoke to Geremia “panicking,” and saw A.G. unconscious on the front seat. She said Geremia began performing CPR on the girl, which was corroborated by a witness who had stopped at RMZ – and who added that Geremia allegedly stopped doing CPR to smoke a cigarette.

In the meantime, Cote had taken her older daughter across Route 28 to a convenience store, where she told police she used the restroom.

“When asked about the possibility of A.G. ingesting drugs or an unknown chemical from within the vehicle,” an investigator wrote in his report, Cote “stated that to the best of her knowledge, nothing should be in the vehicle,” and “further stated that (Geremia) is addicted to fentanyl and Percocet.”

One investigator, in a summation of his report, wrote that Geremia and Cote allegedly “would sometimes fall asleep, leaving the children unsupervised.

“On one occasion, (Cote) nodded off while cutting heroin on a book. This recklessness was the cause of A.G.’s death,” he wrote.

A Londonderry police spokesman in a statement wrote that “Londonderry detectives were assisted (in the investigation) by members of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Manchester Field Office and the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,” and received assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service’s New Hampshire field office in the apprehension of Geremia and Cote.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter