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Despite the tragic circumstances of his young life, Tommy Snelsire was always smiling, his grandfather said.

He spent his first days at the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh after being born addicted to heroin and fentanyl. Doctors treated him with methadone. While Tommy’s extended family was at the facility constantly, prosecutors said his parents never showed up.

Still, Tommy remained in his parents’ custody. That’s who the 12-month-old was with when he died of a drug overdose on Sept. 13, 2020.

Assistant District Attorney Lisa Carey told a judge Tuesday that Tommy’s death wasn’t caused by accidentally coming into contact with the methadone, fentanyl and cocaine found in his system.

Instead, Carey said, investigators found a syringe used to administer medicine to children and a pill bottle that had been used to mix liquid Tylenol and methadone together.

“This baby was dosed with methadone,” Carey said.

Tommy’s parents, Tracy Humphreys and Thomas Snelsire, both 47, of Baldwin, pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder.

They will be sentenced on Jan. 11 before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski. Because of their lengthy criminal records, they both face standard range prison terms of 16 to 20 years.

Tommy was found dead in his parents’ Oakleaf Road home. By the time first responders were called, Carey said the boy had been dead for eight to 12 hours.

Investigators found extensive evidence of drug use in the home’s basement, including a cut green straw with drug residue on it in Tommy’s pack and play, Narcan, stamp bags, needles and six bricks of suspected heroin.

There also was paraphernalia on the bathroom floor, which is where Humphreys’ older son had found his mother passed out on Sept. 13, 2020, Carey said.

An entire set of nursery furniture remained in its boxes in one bedroom and there were unused bedrooms upstairs, prosecutors said.

Carey said Tommy could have been kept safe in one of the bedrooms, but instead his parents kept him in the basement where they primarily used and stored their drugs.

Snelsire, who was under federal investigation at the time of Tommy’s death, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in October and was ordered to serve 10 years in prison.

His defense attorney, Patrick Thomassey, asked Sasinoski to run the sentence for the murder case at the same time.

“It doesn’t matter what you do to Mr. Snelsire,” Thomassey said. “He’s going to be in jail for the rest of his life. He’s going to have to live with what he did to his toddler.”

Snelsire, who cried throughout the proceeding, said, “I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry to everyone.”

James Sheets, who represents Humphreys, said Tommy’s short life can only be described as “torturous.”

“I’m as appalled as everyone else in the room,” Sheets said. “Ms. Humphreys is accepting, to the extent she can, her role in the death of that little boy.”

Humphreys spoke directly to Snelsire’s family on Tuesday, who packed the front row of the gallery.

“I cannot ever give your grandson back. I’m so sorry,” she said, sobbing. “We loved our son.”

“No, you didn’t,” a relative shouted back.

“We loved Tommy,” Humphreys continued. “I don’t know why God lets some people live and lets some people die. I’m alive, and I don’t know why I am and he’s not. I never meant for life to be this way.”

Since her arrest, Humphreys has overdosed on heroin twice at Allegheny County Jail and been revived.

During the hearing, Sasinoski observed that Humphreys appeared to be asleep standing up.

“Have you used drugs or alcohol?” he asked her.

“I’m trying to zone out so I don’t have to listen, and I’m praying under my breath,” she replied.

During victim impact statements, those who loved Tommy spoke about the drug addiction of his parents and how it has affected the family.

Nicole Sockwell told the court that she is the aunt to Humphreys’ oldest son and has known Humphreys since 2008. In that time, Sockwell said people tried to help Humphreys get sober, including taking her to rehab and methadone clinics.

Tommy’s cousin, Paige Herrera, called the defendants selfish.

“Tommy’s life was full of pain and agony,” Herrera said. “All the hurt and pain he experienced could have been prevented. Thomas and Tracy picked drugs over their son.”

Toni Willard, Snelsire’s sister, said she watched her brother struggle with drugs and tried to help him, including allowing him to stay at her home when he was paroled once. She had to kick him out when he brought heroin into her house.

Then, when the family learned Humphreys was pregnant, Willard said, “We were all scared for what was to come.”

Although the family had dealt with Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families and a Baldwin police sergeant who filed two separate Childline reports, they said they were given an all-clear a month before Tommy died.

“This poor child has been failed by everybody,” said Tom Snelsire, Tommy’s grandfather.

He spoke about his son’s addiction issues, telling the judge that he tried to get him help since he was 11 years old.

“That boy had more love than he deserved,” he said.

Tom Snelsire told the court that the family lovingly referred to Tommy as “Chuck,” because he had a big head like Charlie Brown. The day before Tommy died, his grandfather said that he and his wife took the boy to Eat n’ Park and to South Park to see horses.

“There’s no reason this boy had to suffer,” he said.

He asked the judge for a heavy sentence.

“What they deserve is to be punished,” Tom Snelsire said. “They deserve to be put in jail. I’m tired of hearing about the opioid problem. I need someone to say, ‘This ends here.’”

Paula Reed Ward is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paula by email at pward@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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