Doctor says Richmond teen could have lived if parents called 911 right away; drugs found throughout home

A doctor has testified that a 14-year-old boy would have lived had his parents called 911 after finding him unresponsive in his father’s home near Richmond and suspecting that he had ingested his mother’s fentanyl and xylazine.

Instead, prosecutors said, Eric and Cara Ullrich tried to revive their son while they scrambled for hours to make up a fictitious story as to why he was unconscious and barely breathing the morning of Jan. 3, 2024. The teen was pronounced dead in an emergency room later that day from a mix of fentanyl and xylazine, the McHenry County Coroner’s Office later determined.

The testimony was heard at the sentencing hearing of Trent Ullrich’s father, Eric Ullrich, 52. Eric and his ex-wife Cara Ullrich, 46, have pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in their son’s death.

Cara was not living in the home at the time but would sometimes stay there, Eric told detectives. She is accused of bringing the drugs into the home, according to prosecutors and court records. Both parents initially had been charged with murder in the child’s death.

Dr. Steven Aks, who specializes in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, said at the start of Eric’s sentencing hearing earlier in March that the case was “medically easy,” and that Trent could have been saved had 911 been called when they first saw he was unresponsive. Aks said it is “very sad.”

On Friday, the second day of the sentencing hearing, more of a recording of detectives questioning Eric was played for Judge Christopher Harmon, who will determine his sentence.

The detectives uncovered inconsistencies in Eric’s claims about what happened. He told authorities that after they found their son was ill and his ex-wife said she “lost some dope in the house,” Eric said he “flipped a gasket” and told her to get out.

He claimed during the police questioning that he still did not think his son had ingested any drugs and that “Trent’s health was not a concern yet. ... If I thought he was sick, I would have called for help.”

He also pushed back on detectives’ claims that his son was unresponsive, and that he and Cara “frantically” helped him into the shower. He countered that Trent just said he didn’t feel well, that he told his son to take a shower, and that Trent got in the shower on his own. Trent walked downstairs naked, laid on the couch and fell asleep, his father said.

The recording revealed that detectives eventually told Eric they knew he was not telling the truth and that someone else had filled them in on what was going on hours before he called 911. In later testimony, the judge heard from the witness via an affidavit read in court detailing the same events detectives told Eric they already knew occurred that morning.

The judge heard testimony that after the shower, the couple laid Trent on the couch and took shifts watching him, but Cara fell asleep during her shift. Eric woke up about 11 a.m. and discovered Trent not breathing, and there was a lot of “commotion” before Eric called 911, the witness said in the affidavit.

The judge later saw pictures of baggies of powdery substances strewn throughout the house in various locations, including the couple’s and Trent’s bedrooms, substances that later proved to be narcotics.

The judge also saw photos from Cara’s phone that appear to show she had lived in the house for most of December, despite Eric saying she did not live there and initially telling detectives that he did not know she was even in the house that night.

Photos also were displayed in court that showed baggies with grayish powder residue near Trent’s bed and behind a TV, caps from hypodermic needles, and blood spatter on Trent’s bedroom wall. A detective testified that the blood spatter is consistent with someone shooting up. Additional photos showed vials of cocaine; baggies of fentanyl, heroin and xylazine; two tall marijuana plants; and loose marijuana. The judge also saw photos of the family posing with bags of marijuana and Eric holding a crack pipe.

Both parents initially were charged with first-degree murder, but they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. In addition to involuntary manslaughter in his son’s death, Eric also entered a guilty plea to witness tampering, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. He faces a total of 19 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is due to continue April 15.

Cara is scheduled for a three-day sentencing hearing beginning April 30. Both have been in custody at the McHenry County jail since their arrests.

An Antioch man also is charged in connection with Trent’s death. Jose Limas, 69, is accused of selling the fatal doses of fentanyl and xylazine to Cara, court records show. He is charged with drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony. If convicted, he could spend up to 30 years in prison.

Another recorded police interview was played at Eric’s sentencing hearing Friday of a woman who said she sometimes lived in Limas’s house. She told authorities that Eric and Cara Ullrich had been to the house “a handful of times” and bought crack cocaine from Limas. They were there about two months before Trent’s death, she said.

Police also said they found in Limas’ house 12 plastic bags of powder that matched what was found near Trent’s bed as well as numerous glass pipes, vials, xylazine and fentanyl test strips, packaging materials and a piece of Eric Ullrich’s mail.

Limas has been in custody since his arrest in July and is due in court April 22.