Baldwin couple wanted in connection with infant's death turn themselves in to police

One month after a caseworker with Children, Youth and Families gave the all-clear on a Baldwin couple’s home, their 1-year-old infant was found dead from what police said Wednesday was a drug overdose.

Thomas Humphreys was found dead in his parents’ Oakleaf Road home in Baldwin on Sept. 13. Investigators wrote in the charges against his parents that he’d likely been dead “for a long period of time” before authorities were alerted.

A county news release said Thursday the borough’s police department first arrived at the house after a 911 call that reported the infant was not breathing. When they arrived, officers attempted to revive the infant but failed. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials did not say who called police.

The child’s parents, Tracy Humphreys and Thomas Snelsire, both 45, turned themselves in to Allegheny County police on Thursday. They each face a dozen charges in connection with the infant’s death, including homicide.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has not publicly released the infant’s cause of death, but Dr. Karl Williams is noted in the criminal complaint as ruling the death a homicide from drug toxicity.

Allegheny County police wrote in the criminal complaint they found drug paraphernalia on a tray table in the basement that was within reach of the child’s play pen. Under a blanket in the play pen they found a cut green plastic straw with “an unknown white powder in the straw,” police wrote.

Police said they found other drug paraphernalia, including needles, stamp bags, pill bottles and six bricks of suspected heroin.

Humphreys’s other son, an 11-year-old, told police he was aware of the illegal drugs in the house, and he was allowed to go into the basement where the drugs were kept, according to the criminal complaint.

During a medical exam at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, he tested positive as having a cocaine metabolite in his system, police said.

First responders who initially arrived on the scene about 4 p.m. on Sept. 13 said they found Humphreys inside the home with the deceased child and Snelsires was “laying in the roadway,” according to the complaint.

A Baldwin police sergeant noted that he’d filed two separate Childline reports regarding the family, one in May and one in July, according to the complaint. An Allegheny County Police detective said he’d dealt with Humphreys and Snelsires in the past and called them “known abusers of pills and heroin,” police wrote.

A CYF caseworker interviewed by police said she’d performed a whole-house inspection Aug. 14 and “she did not see illegal drugs or inappropriate conditions,” according to the complaint.

A county spokeswoman said officials cannot comment on CYF involvement with any particular family.

Humphreys and Snelsire both face one count of homicide and 11 drug violations, court records show.

Attorney James Sheets said he heard from the couple this morning and met them in the South Hills to drive them to Allegheny County police headquarters.

He will represent Humphreys while attorney Patrick Thomassey will represent Snelsire.

“Any homicide is tragic, but when you have a situation where the victim is as young as 1, this is particularly tragic,” Sheets said.

But, he continued, “These are allegations at this point. We will work the case as it winds its way through the system.”

Staff writer Dillon Carr contributed.