Parents indicted for infant’s death

A Coker couple is charged with the chemical endangerment of their own child. 35-year-old Jessica Minor, the infant’s mother, and 40-year-old Randal Gray, the infant’s father, were both indicted by a grand jury Friday, March 3.

Minor was initially arrested and charged in August 2022 with:

 >    Chemical Endangerment of a child under a subsection (3) which states the violation and the exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or contact resulting in the death of the child. The charge is a Class A felony.

>     Trafficking Methamphetamine

The father, 40-year-old Randall Chester Gray II, was charged with:

<     Chemical Endangerment of a child under the same subsection.

<       Possession of Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute.

On May 5, 2022, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 14000 block of Shady Woods Lane in Coker in response to a call about an unresponsive three-month-old infant. Investigators say deputies immediately began CPR, until an ambulance arrived.

The 3-month-old child, Greyson Randal Gray, was transported to the hospital but did not survive. No physical trauma was found on the child, and interviews with the parents did not produce a cause of death. The Violent Crimes Unit assumed the investigation at that time because no cause of death was determined.

The parents and all witnesses were formally interviewed and the scene was processed. Several months later, when the autopsy report was returned, it stated methamphetamine was detected in the baby’s system when he was born in February, 2022. The cause of death was then determined as “methamphetamine toxicity.”

“During the course of their arrest, suspected meth was found at their residence and on their person,” said Captain Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa County Violent Crimes Unit. “Agents with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force were called out to handle that investigation.  At this time, they have also been additionally charged with possession with intent to distribute and trafficking meth,.”

VCU investigators then consulted with a series of medical experts, re-interviewed the parents, and presented the findings to the District Attorney’s Office and subsequent grand jury, which returned an indictment.