COVINGTON, Ky. -- A woman who conspired to get a deadly combination of morphine and fentanyl to her daughter inside the Kenton County Detention Center may end up dying in prison, too.
Kimberly Mullins pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death.
Kimberly Mullins
Mullins arranged for her daughter, Jamie Green, to receive heroin several times at the Campbell County Detention Center between May 27 and Sept. 3, according to court records. Green was being held on a probation violation.
"They found a common interest, and it was drugs," Green's cousin, Rachel O'Hara, said. "Kim was an addict, and that’s when they became close to one another."
RESOURCES: Where to get help with addiction
On Sept. 4, when Green was transferred to the Kenton County Detention Center, Mullins again arranged for someone to smuggle what she believed to be heroin to her daughter, according to court records.
Green overdosed and died; according to court records, lab tests found she'd been given morphine and fentanyl, not heroin. Addicts can easily overdose, experts say, because fentanyl is a painkiller 50 times more potent than its cousin, heroin.
EDITORIAL: Feds need to focus on fentanyl
"As an adult, as an addict yourself, you know the struggles of it," said Mullins' stepmother, Candace Brewer. "And a mother? I could not imagine me having my hand in any part of that."
Mullins was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison as part of her guilty plea.
Green, who was 24 when she died, left behind a 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. Brewer has custody of the daughter, and O'Hara, who had custody of Green when she was teen, now has custody of Green's son.
"I know he is going to have questions one day, and I will answer them the best I can and be as honest as I can," O'Hara said.
Brewer said Mullins will never see her granddaughter.
"No, I will never go visit her. No, I will never write her," she said. "I will absolutely not ever take (Green's daughter) to see her. The last time you saw her was the last time you saw her."
