The parents of a 1-year-old were arrested on suspicion of murder Wednesday, after their child died of a fentanyl overdose in Jurupa Valley two months earlier.

Around 4:20 a.m. on Sept. 1, deputies responded to a call of a juvenile who was not breathing in the 5400 block of 34th Street, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

The deputies immediately gave medical aid, but the child was declared dead.

Following an extensive investigation, it was determined the 15-month-old child “was a victim of homicide due to a Fentanyl overdose,” the Sheriff’s Department said.

The investigation continued over the next several months, and it was determined the child’s parents, 22-year-old Adler Metcalf and 20-year-old Sandy Acuna were responsible for possessing the fentanyl that killed their child, officials said.

On Wednesday, both Metcalf and Acuna were located, taken into custody and booked on suspicion of murder, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact investigator Merrill at the Jurupa Valley Station at 951-955-2600 or investigator Peters at the Overdose Death Investigation and Narcotics Unit at 951-955-1700.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is around 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal — depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past use. 

Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the primary driver of overdose deaths in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids — mainly illicitly manufactured fentanyl —  climbed 55.6% between 2020 and 2021.