(UPDATE: 08/03/23)

A Chester woman was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday.

Joyce Stover, 34, will serve her sentence at the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Stover was arrested and charged in October 2021 with homicide by child abuse for the death of her 11-month-old child. Authorities say, Stover, was not allowed to be left alone with the child. While with the child, police say, she used fentanyl and the child ingested a lethal amount of fentanyl. Emergency officials responded to the home and attempted to revive the baby however, they were unable to.

An autopsy and toxicology confirmed the child died from fentanyl toxicity.

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(ORIGINAL STORY: 11/15/21)

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — A mother and grandmother have been arrested in connection to an infant death in Chester County, according to the sheriff’s office.

Chester County deputies were called to an Elizabeth Drive home on Oct. 30 in reference to an unresponsive infant. The infant was later pronounced dead by the coroner.

Through an investigation, deputies determined that the infant was in the care of its grandmother, identified as 55-year-old Sharon Jordan, and that the mother, 33-year-old Joyce Stover, was visiting her child.

Stover was allowed to visit her child but was not allowed to be alone with the infant, according to a regulation put in place by the Department of Social Service. Jordan, the grandmother and legal guardian of the infant, temporarily left the home, leaving Stover and her infant unsupervised.

Upon Jordan’s return home, she found the mother asleep, with the unsupervised infant on the kitchen floor. The infant was placed into a crib where a short time later, it was found unresponsive, according to a news release.

Investigators found bottles of naloxone* in the crib with the infant, and a toxicology report stated the cause of death was a fentanyl overdose.

Deputies said Jordan has been charged with unlawful neglect of a child and Stover has been charged with murder by child abuse.

Both Jordan and Stover are currently being housed in the Chester County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing, officials said.

*Naloxone, also known as NARCAN, is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, and is often given to a person who shows signs of an opioid overdose or when an overdose is suspected.