Henry County mother sentenced for daughter's overdose death

Jayme Schwenkmeyer, shown here in court in August 2010, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for the overdose death of her child.

NAPOLEON — A Liberty Center, Ohio, woman convicted in the drug overdose death of her 13-month-old daughter was taken into custody Tuesday after being sentenced to four years in prison.

Jayme Schwenkmeyer, 25, who is also known by her married name, Jayme Novak, pleaded no contest March 28 to a reduced charge of reckless homicide stemming from the Aug. 15, 2007, death of her daughter, Kamryn Gerken. 

Henry County Common Pleas Judge Keith P. Muehlfeld imposed a recommended sentence of four years in prison and gave Schwenkmeyer credit for 333 days that she had already served in custody. The judge also imposed a $10,000 fine.

Authorities said the young mother failed to protect Kamryn from what would later be determined to be a lethal dose of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax and the painkiller oxycodone.

David E. Knepley, 51, of Napoleon, who was living with Schwenkmeyer at the time of the child’s death, was convicted in a jury trial last month of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and child endangering, a third-degree felony. Knepley, who is being held in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker, is to be sentenced April 12.