South Philly woman is sentenced to prison in teen’s drug death

A South Philadelphia woman arrested in connection with the death of a young mother has been sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty in Common Pleas Court.

Maddison Leidy, 27, pleaded guilty to drug delivery resulting in death and abuse of a corpse in the death of Erin Schweikert, 18, who was reported missing in October 2019 and whose badly decomposed body was found in January 2020 stuffed inside a plastic container in the basement of the home where Leidy had been living.

Authorities discovered Schweikert’s remains after going to the home in the 2100 block of Porter Street to execute an arrest warrant on Leidy in connection with a robbery. Officers with the Police Department’s Special Victims Unit had received a tip that Schweikert may be at the house.

Schweikert, who was the mother of a toddler, died from drug intoxication, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

After supplying Schweikert with a lethal dose of fentanyl, Leidy hid her body in a plastic box in the basement, where she continued to sleep, despite an overwhelming odor of decomposition, authorities said.

Schweikert, who lived on South Lee Street in South Philadelphia and was active on social media, had three Facebook pages. Many of the pictures featured her with her toddler daughter or striking playful glamour poses.

After she was last seen Sept. 27, 2019, her family and friends took to social media to get the word out that she was missing. Attempts to reach her family were not successful.

Judge Scott O’Keefe sentenced Leidy last Thursday.