The mother of Dustin Truckley Jr. was arraigned yesterday afternoon on charges of involuntary manslaughter following the December 18, 2015 death of her 11-year-old son.
by Jonathan Weaver
An 11-year-old Madison Township boy died due to his mother’s Methadone prescription in the house two months ago.
The morning of December 18, Pennsylvania State Police troopers from the Kittanning barracks said emergency medical responders found Dustin Vawn Truckley of New Bethlehem deceased for an extended period of time due to a methadone overdose on his mother’s pills.
Yesterday afternoon, Bobbie Jo Truckley – 36 -was arraigned in front of District Magisterial Judge James Owen on felony involuntary manslaughter, misdemeanor endangering the welfare of children and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person.
Bobbi Jo was arraigned on $10,000 unsecured bond.
Armstrong County Coroner Brian Myers said that Dustin was found deceased in his second-floor bedroom by his father. Myers pronounced Dustin dead on-scene.
Autopsy and toxicology tests both determined death due to acute drug toxicity.
Myers said investigators were waiting for autopsy reports before making a final determination on the case to make sure nothing else contributed to Dustin’s death.
“It’s an 11-year-old kid that doesn’t deserve to be dead,” Myers said. “I just hope others learn off of this tragedy and they lock up their medicine cabinets and everything else.
“I hope there’s something good that comes out of a local tragedy.”
Myers – who processed 29 fatal overdoses in 2015 - hoped this is his only case involving a young child.
“Most of our cases are with illicit drugs. This was an 11-year-old kid that was very innocent and obviously very naive, I would say,” Myers said. “I’m not sure (Dustin) even know what he was doing. I would say he didn’t”
Dustin was a 5th grade student at Redbank Valley Intermediate School.
According to his Rupert Funeral Home and Cremation Service obituary notice in December, Dustin was a volunteer for the Salvation Army and loved to hunt, fish, play baseball and catch snapping turtles.
Bobbi Jo’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1PM Tuesday before District Magisterial Judge Daniel P. George.