LINCOLN COUNTY – A St. Charles County judge lowered the bond of one of six people charged with murder in connection with the drug exposure death of a 49-day-old baby earlier this week.

Circuit Judge James Thornhill reduced Selena Rodriguez’s bond from $500,000 to $100,000 during a hearing Tuesday in St. Charles.

Despite the reduction, Rodriguez remains in custody in the Lincoln County Jail where she resided since her arrest Dec. 14 for three felony charges, second degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

A grand jury indicted Rodriguez and five others in connection with the August death of her 7-week old baby who allegedly died after exposure to methamphetamine and fentanyl, along with suffering physical abuse.

The child died inside a single-wide trailer where her father, Gabriel Clark, grandmother, Shawna Walton, uncle, Dillon Clark, and two others, Evan and Adam Hausermann, all lived.

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said law enforcement found drugs in every room of the trailer and Coroner Dan Heavin said methamphetamine intoxication with fentanyl exposure was the primary cause of death.

In addition to Rodriguez, the grand jury also indicted all five of the individuals living in the trailer on similar charges.

While all of them remain in custody on bond, Gabriel Clark also successfully argued for a lower one, albeit at $250,000 instead of the original $500,000.

In requesting a bond of just $25,000, Rodriguez’s attorney argued his client’s circumstances were vastly different than the other defendants.

“Defendant has absolutely no criminal record, she has strong family ties, and she is a resident of the local county in which she is charged,” Michael Moeller stated in his formal bond reduction request. “Defendant has no connection to the home in which (the victim) died, nor can the State show that Defendant was in actual or constructive possession of any drugs … the same is not true for the other five co-defendants who are charged together with Defendant in this case.”

According to Heavin, the child had been living with her father for about a week before her death.

The infant had multiple wounds indicating prior history of physical abuse per the coroner’s report, specifically broken ribs and brain bleeds.

While there were lethal doses of both drugs, there were higher amounts of methamphetamines according to Heavin. Exposure to the drugs alone can be deadly with contact being as simple as drug dust on the pacifier or clothing.

And Wood noted there was more than a recreational usage amount of drugs present.

“Whether it was on the baby’s bottle, whether it was on something that they had eaten, there was just generalized exposure through the skin,” Wood said. “The amount of fentanyl that was there leads us to believe that there was some type of activity regarding further distribution.”