A man charged in his baby’s meth poisoning death appeared for the first time in Pierce County Circuit Court on Sept. 23. He posted bail two days later. 

Taylor Jae Olson, 26, River Falls, posted $10,000 cash bond Sept. 25 on felony first-degree reckless homicide (as party to a crime), felony chronic neglect of child (consequence is death, as party to a crime), felony possession of methamphetamine (as party to a crime) and possess drug paraphernalia (as party to a crime) charges in Pierce County Circuit Court. If convicted, he faces up to 60 years in prison.

The mother of the child, Jessie Lee Kittelson, 23, Ellsworth, faces the same charges. Her bond was set at $10,000 cash Sept. 2. Her attorney asked for the bond to be modified to a signature bond at a Sept. 14 bail/bond hearing; the judge denied the request. Kittelson remains in Pierce County Jail.

According to the complaint:

On Saturday, March 14, a Pierce County deputy was dispatched to a town of Trimbelle home for a 3-week-old child who was not breathing. Kittelson was upset and crying; she directed officers to a basement bedroom where another woman was kneeling in front of a bed doing CPR on the baby. The officer, who took over CPR until EMS arrived, saw a dark substance around the baby’s mouth and nose. His face was pale and blueish in color. He was not breathing and didn’t have a pulse. Paramedics arrived and said the baby had died.

Kittelson told police the baby had been born prematurely on Feb. 19 and was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 16 days before being sent home March 7. Kittelson said she breast-fed the baby and Olson, the baby’s father, came over every day to see them but hadn’t that day.

Kittelson told officers she and the baby dozed in the bed until she awoke to feed him around 2:30 a.m. She said they then fell back asleep with the baby wrapped in a green swaddle. When she awoke, she said the baby wasn’t breathing so she yelled for her mother and called 911.

Officers received orders to take a urine sample from Kittelson, but she couldn’t provide one immediately. She gave a sample to police later that tested negative for all substances.

A Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s autopsy determined the baby’s cause of death as methamphetamine toxicity.

Officers interviewed Kittelson again on May 8. When they told her the baby’s toxicology results, she admitted to using methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax with Olson since they started dating in 2025. She claimed that Olson used fentanyl for awhile as well. Kittelson said she tried to stay sober while she was pregnant but continued to use until September 2025. She denied using meth after September but said the baby only ingested breastmilk, nothing else.

Olson told officers he had a history of using meth, cocaine, Xanax and fentanyl. He also admitted to using meth after the baby was born, claiming he always washed his hands after smoking it. He said he started using meth around April 2025 when he stopped using fentanyl. He then stated that he and Kittelson used meth throughout her entire pregnancy and after the baby’s birth, estimating a gram or two per day. He said after the baby came home, they would smoke meth in the downstairs bathroom or in his car.

Witnesses said Kittelson only fed the baby breastmilk and told them she couldn’t donate the frozen breastmilk after the baby’s death due to a preeclampsia diagnosis.

Olson also admitted to police that after he found out about the baby’s death and Kittelson’s pending urine test, he drove to a store in Ellsworth and purchases synthetic urine that he gave to her.

Kittelson changed her story and told police she had smoked meth twice after the baby was born. She claimed she smoked meth three days before the baby died and “pumped and dumped” her breastmilk supply for 48 hours, using “clean” breastmilk she had stored to feed the baby. She then admitted to using meth her entire pregnancy though she tried to quit. Kittelson stated she was not sober at the time her baby was born, but she was sober a week after he was born and then relapsed. She said she did what she could to dilute the breast milk so that the victim wouldn’t consume any meth. She denied ever smoking meth after the victim was born at her parents’ residence. She also stated that she did not use the synthetic urine that Olson had provided her because she couldn’t get the container open.

Deputies were again dispatched to the town of Trimbelle residence in the early morning hours of Thursday, May 14 for a suicidal female (Kittelson). Ellsworth EMS transported Kittelson to Red Wing Mayo Hospital; police applied for a search warrant for the residence and Olson’s car, which was at the home.

Inside the vehicle, investigators found a lunchbox containing meth, three glass pipes and other meth paraphernalia, along with two glass jars containing marijuana. Nothing was found inside the house.

Olson is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing in Pierce County at 2:45 p.m. Oct. 12. Kittelson’s arraignment hearing was set for 11:45 a.m. Sept. 29, after the Journal’s press time.