A month after an Evergreen man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing a toddler on Feb. 18, 2015, the slain child’s mother has been charged in relation to the murder.

In Flathead District Court on Monday, Takara Juntunen, 22, was charged with felony negligent homicide and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

Prosecutor Andrew Clegg alleges in charging documents that Juntunen negligently caused the child’s death “by placing the child in the physical care of Brandon Newberry, who she knew, or should have known, was causing injury to the child, knowing Newberry was using methamphetamine on a daily basis and failing to remove the child from the situation and failing to seek medical care for the child.”

Juntunen faces up to 25 years in prison and $100,000 in fines if convicted on both charges. Prosecutors claim in court documents that emergency responders found paraphernalia used to ingest methamphetamine in the Shady Lane home in Evergreen where 2-year-old Forrest Groshelle was found not breathing. He died at the scene.

Juntunen’s boyfriend, Brandon Lee Walter Newberry, 22, had called 911 to report that the child was non-responsive.

According to court documents filed Monday, there were apparent injuries to Forrest’s face, neck, arms, legs, back and buttocks. Newberry, who could be heard in 911 tapes yelling “It’s my fault,” entered an Alford plea to mitigated deliberate homicide earlier this year.

Newberry was sentenced April 19 to 40 years in the Montana State Prison for killing Forrest.

Court documents say that the day Forrest died, Juntunen was interviewed and said Newberry had moved into the residence in mid-December 2014 and had begun watching Forrest daily while Juntunen worked.

Juntunen allegedly told investigators that the child had been sick for several days with a fever and had been vomiting. She allegedly told law enforcement that she knew the child was in pain, but Forrest said he was “feeling fine.”

When authorities returned later to investigate the crime scene, the paraphernalia first responders had encountered was gone and the residence apparently had been cleaned.

The next day, Juntunen told investigators that Forrest had not eaten or drunk anything other than water in the days leading up to his death. She allegedly said that the day before he died, Forrest was “turning purple” and “throwing up brown stuff” and had pain in his abdomen.

The child allegedly had a 101.2-degree fever and Juntunen said that his hands and feet were cold to the touch.

She told investigators that she did not need to take the child to the hospital and that she did not believe the child’s injuries were serious. She allegedly stated that she did not observe any injuries or bruising on the child prior to his death and allegedly further denied ever seeing any bruising on the child.

“The autopsy states the child’s body ‘had evidence of abuse, manifested in extensive bruising, especially on the head, back, and buttocks,’” Clegg wrote in the charging documents.

He noted that people have reported seeing Newberry abuse the child.

At Newberry’s sentencing last month, Forrest’s aunt Kayla Johnson testified that she moved out of the home where Newberry and Juntunen lived after Newberry assaulted her and bruised her neck.

Johnson testified that she once saw Newberry leave the child unattended in a dirty diaper when Newberry was supposed to be watching him.

A week before Forrest was killed, Johnson contacted Child Protective Services after Forrest ended up with a huge bruise that Newberry claimed had happened when the child fell from a bed.

“They took Brandon’s word for it though they knew that there were warrants out for his arrest for domestic abuse,” Johnson said.

After Forrest’s death, Johnson heard from witnesses who said Newberry would throw the child in a cold shower to punish him and once locked the child in a room by himself by taking the knob off a door. She said someone also relayed to her that Newberry once sat on the child so hard that the child defecated.

Johnson testified that the family was told the blunt force to the abdomen that killed Forrest was equivalent to that of a gunshot.

“You are a vicious monster,” Johnson told Newberry at his sentencing hearing.

Clegg claims in court documents that Newberry is not the only one responsible for Forrest’s death.

“Individuals with knowledge of the home indicated that Juntunen’s level of care and attention towards F.G. diminished significantly due to both the drug use and Newberry’s presence,” Clegg wrote. “In Montana, a failure or omission to take action is an ‘act’ in itself, pursuant to [state law]. Further, a mother’s failure to obtain medical aid for a child has been found to constitute negligent homicide.”

The day after Forrest’s death, Juntunen’s father allegedly gave the Sheriff’s Office Juntunen’s backpack that appeared to have been hidden in his vehicle. The backpack contained paraphernalia with meth residue.

Juntunen allegedly admitted using meth on a daily basis in the days leading up to the child’s death.

A court date or arrest warrant for Juntunen had not been assigned or issued as of Tuesday afternoon.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.