LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Louisville mother is demanding justice and change after the heartbreaking death of her 3-year-old son from a fentanyl overdose.
At Green Meadows Cemetery, Ashley Green-Winters visits her son’s grave several times a week, often bringing balloons and decorations to honor his memory.
“He was very intelligent,” Green-Winters said of her son, Cassius Ballanger, affectionately known as Baby Cash. “He was just a bundle of joy.”
Cassius would have celebrated his 6th birthday last week, but as his mother says, “He’s forever 3.”
“Life moves on when somebody dies, but the person whose child it was — our life stands still,” Green-Winters said. “My end goal is to make sure he’s not forgotten and he changes the world.”
Green-Winters recalled the day Cassius’s father called to tell her their son was unresponsive after staying at his house. At first, the family believed he had died of natural causes.
“Come July of that year, investigators called me and said it was from fentanyl poisoning,” she said.
The autopsy confirmed the cause of death as acute fentanyl intoxication.
“Knowing my baby came in contact with that, and learning the case would be hard to prove — I couldn’t sit back and do nothing,” Green-Winters said. “He saved me from addiction only to die from someone else’s addiction. It ignited a fire in me to start advocating.”
Sober for six years, Green-Winters said she quit using drugs when she became pregnant with Cassius. Now, she’s determined to raise awareness about fentanyl dangers and push for new laws to protect children.
“My baby mattered,” she said. “I’m going for a law called the CASH Act — Children Against Substance Harm Act — to ensure everyone in the house is investigated, prosecuted, and held accountable when a child dies in their care.”
Cassius’s father, Jeffrey Ballanger, also wants justice. He admitted feeling responsible for allowing a homeless woman and her children to stay in his home, fearing she might have brought drugs inside. He said he kept about a gram of cocaine on top of a cabinet but insisted other adults were present and questioned why police didn’t drug test everyone in the home.
So far, no arrests have been made.
“LMPD Homicide is continuing its ongoing overdose death investigation of the 3-year-old Cash Ballanger that occurred in April 2023,” the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement. “The case is still open and active. Anyone with information can call our anonymous tip line at (502) 574-LMPD.”
Green-Winters now wears a T-shirt covered in photos of children — all victims of fentanyl overdoses — to honor their memory and bring attention to the crisis.
“These are all babies who have passed away from fentanyl,” she said. “Some are receiving justice. Some aren’t.”
She also shared a message for whoever knows the truth about her son’s death.
“I forgive you,” she said. “But I do want you to be held accountable — and I want you to hold yourself accountable — to give my baby justice.”
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