A distraught grandmother has told how one of her twin infant grandsons turned blue when they both died after allegedly being exposed to their mother’s fentanyl use.
LaTina Allen sobbed as she recalled performing CPR on her three-year-old grandsons, Josiah and Jestine, also known as Jojo and Juju, on July 11.
Allen said she and her daughter, Jestice James, were in their Canoga Park, California, apartment that afternoon when she heard James scream for help.
The older twin, Josiah, did not move despite James’ attempts to wake the boy.
“She didn’t even know what was going on,” Allen said. “I heard her voice change. She kept saying, ‘Hoho! Hoho!’ When I ran into the room, she said something was wrong.”
Allen said he grabbed the boy, but Josiah had already turned blue.
Jestice James, 22, remains in the Los Angeles County Jail on $4 million bail.
James’ mother, LaTina Allen, entered the courtroom on July 16, 2024 with her other daughter, Jestina, behind her.
Three-year-old twins Jestine (left) and Josiah (right) recently celebrated their birthday on July 9.
“I turned around and told my cousin to call 911,” the grandmother said. “I panicked and I wasn’t doing CPR right, so my other daughter, Jestina, called 911.”
In their panic, Allen said they didn’t realize the younger twin, Jestice, was also not breathing.
“We were so worried about Jojo that we didn’t realize Juju needed help, too,” Allen recalled.
Allen said his neighbors also tried to perform CPR on the twins. Paramedics who arrived about five minutes later used Narcan spray on the boys, which is used to reverse an opioid overdose.
Jestice responded to the Narcan and moved a little, but Josiah’s tiny body was lifeless, the grandmother told DailyMail.com.
“They took them each away in separate ambulances and my daughter was screaming to be with her children,” Allen said. “We thought we could go in the ambulance with them, but they said, ‘No ma’am, it’s too serious. We can’t let you go with them.'”
“We sat downstairs in shock. Three hours later, my daughter was taken into custody.”
The boys were rushed to a nearby hospital, but it was too late. Josiah died that same afternoon, while Jestine died two days later.
Los Angeles County prosecutors charged James, 22, with two counts of murder and two counts of child abuse/endangerment under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily harm or death.
Jestice James, 22, could face life in prison if convicted on all charges, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege the twins were exposed to drugs laced with fentanyl, but did not elaborate on how the children came into contact with the deadly opioid.
James’ boyfriend was also at the apartment on the day in question, family members said.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami said the case is the first in Los Angeles County where a father accused of “pediatric exposure to illicit fentanyl” faces murder charges.
“The Los Angeles Police Department’s Child Abuse Unit has done an extraordinary job investigating this case,” Hatami told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. “Their investigation is ongoing, including the search for possible additional defendants.”
Hatami added that he is already working on four other potential cases in which a child or children died in Los Angeles County in the past six months due to fentanyl exposure.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami said the number of child deaths linked to fentanyl exposure is “alarming.”
Allen said her daughter Jestice had to deal with “a lot of struggles” as a young mother, but that she loved her twin sons.
James’ older sister, Jestina, said her sister nearly died a year and a half ago after unknowingly smoking marijuana laced with fentanyl.
However, another friend who smoked the deadly batch suffered an overdose.
“He was very sad for his friend because he had died and they were all smoking the same thing,” said Jestina, 26. “It was adulterated and they didn’t know. None of them knew.”
“That’s what we don’t understand. She knew how dangerous this was. She would never put her children in danger.”
Court records show James had previously been arrested for grand larceny and was charged in October 2022. She was placed on probation for two years after pleading guilty to the charge, according to court records obtained by DailyMail.com.
James also had a misdemeanor arrest warrant for organized retail grant theft filed in December 2023.
James had difficulty finding work in the past, but was always a caring and attentive mother to her twin sons, her family said.
Jestine (left) was the youngest twin, but always “looked out” for his older brother Josiah (right) because he was “a little bit bigger,” his grandmother LaTina Allen told DailyMail.com. “They were wonderful and always full of joy.”
Her family said she was initially arrested on July 11 on a misdemeanor grand larceny warrant, when she was later investigated and charged with the murder of her twin sons.
Allen said he has not been able to speak to his daughter since she was arrested last week.
The grandmother said she and her daughters had been homeless for about eight years until they found a place at the city-run affordable transitional housing complex in Canoga Park, where the twins were also staying.
Allen said her daughter had a hard time raising her children, but they always made things work.
“I told her, ‘You know me. Everything I have, they have,'” Allen said of her grandchildren. “She applied for jobs, but she had gotten into trouble, so it was hard for her. She was shoplifting with her friends and got caught. I told her she needed to stay away from people who get her into trouble. She just fell into bad company.”
The grieving grandmother said she now has to deal with the tragic loss of her beloved grandchildren, but also with the possibility that her daughter could spend the rest of her life in prison.
“I want people to know that she was not a bad mother,” Allen said. “She was a loving and caring mother to her children. She never allowed them to be hurt.”
James, who appeared in a Van Nuys court on Tuesday, remains in jail on $4 million bail. He is scheduled to appear in court again on July 31.
During the brief hearing, James fought back tears as Allen told him “I love you” from across the courtroom.
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