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Mt. Pleasant mom's overdose leads to endangerment charges

Renatta Signorini
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Jessica Layne King

A drug overdose at a Mt. Pleasant home this week led to endangerment charges against a woman whose two children were there at the time, according to police.

Jessica Layne King, 28, was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $10,000 bail.

A resident of the South Diamond Street home called Westmoreland 911 at 12:40 a.m. Thursday after returning home to find Alex Michael Gustafson, 28, unresponsive, according to a Mt. Pleasant police affidavit. King was slumped over in a corner but later regained consciousness and police gave Gustafson a dose of naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

King's two children, ages 10 and 6, were upstairs at the time, police said. They are in a relative's care.

Gustafson later died at Excela Health Frick Hospital, police said.

King told police they took Xanax pills and police found hypodermic needles in her possession. While she was at Frick Hospital being treated, King appeared to nod off and a nurse administered naloxone, police said.

King is charged with two counts of child endangerment and a single charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer.