Category: Media Coverage

NC autopsy backlog frustrates families, leaves cases open

NORTH CAROLINA — Some North Carolina families are waiting months, even a year, to find out how their loved one died due to the state’s autopsy backlog.

Lawmakers are trying to address this in several different ways, but it is all tied up in the looming budget right now.

Barbara Walsh is the founder of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, an organization for families of fentanyl victims. She said fixing the autopsy backlog is critical to getting families closure and justice.

For months, Walsh had no idea what killed her 24-year-old daughter Sofia who had just moved to Charlotte for a new job.

“She died because she drank a water bottle that had diluted fentanyl in it,” Walsh said.

Now, families she’s helping through her organization are waiting even longer, sometimes over a year, for toxicology results as the medical examiner’s office faces a massive backlog in autopsies.

Walsh is vocal about the state budget as some lawmakers have promised to help clear the autopsy backlog.

One of the new proposals would pay pathologists more to try and fill positions at the short-staffed medical examiner’s office, which has seen a 30% increase in cases. Cases involving suspected overdose deaths are up by 58%.

Read the full story and watch the video on the WSOCTV9 website.

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Chinese fentanyl cartel ordered to pay Akron family $18M by judge

Ruling is first-of-it’s kind to go after overseas fentanyl producers

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -On Wednesday, it was announced a Summit County judge ruled in favor of the Rauh family, who’s son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2015, and ordered a Chinese cartel to pay $18 million.

Thomas “Tommy” Rauh became addicted to prescription opioids after a rollerblading accident, which then led to him using heroin.

According to his father James Rauh, Tommy tried to overcome the addiction but took a fatal dose in 2015, laced with fentanyl.

The fentanyl that killed Tommy was traced to, and produced by, the Zheng drug trafficking cartel in China.

“Our son Tommy was stolen from us,” Rauh said. “He never stood a chance against the incredibly potent poison provided by the Zhengs. All for what? The reckless and malicious greed of the Zheng cartel. To save American lives, we must stop the foreign manufacturers and traffickers of illegal fentanyl and hold them accountable.”

Read the full article and watch the video on the Channel 19 website.

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‘They are dealing death’: WRAL Investigates goes undercover to get firsthand look at fentanyl crisis in NC

It’s a killer the size of grain of sand or the tip of a pen. Illegal fentanyl is running rampant through North Carolina, and the consequences are terrifying.

Fentanyl deaths are on the rise in North Carolina. Last year, 4,000 people lost their lives to drug overdoses in our state. The majority — 77% — died due to fentanyl poisoning.

The Nash County Sheriff’s Office recently confiscated enough fentanyl to kill every person in the county. WRAL Investigates spent several days with undercover agents and confidential informants on the streets of Nash County as law enforcement battles the war on this poison.

Early one summer morning, the Nash County Sheriff’s Special Response Team conducted a search at a mobile home. A family, including kids in their pajamas, filed out of the home. One person came out in handcuffs.

“Children put things in their mouth. That makes it more alarming,” said one member of the response team.

With their work done at the mobile home, the next raid was on, this time in Rocky Mount. A flash bang disrupts the silence at a home on Pine Street.The SRT quickly enters the home yelling, “Come to the center of the room” and “Hands Up!”

“This is an older neighborhood with a lot of good families in it. This house — drugs were bought out of it yesterday,” WRAL Investigates was told.

A search revealed fentanyl and heroin, as well as a stolen gun. The SRT also found high-powered ammunition.

“As you can see with tips of these they are capable of going through wood-framed houses and bullet-proof vests,” investigators told WRAL Investigates.

Targeting guns, drugs and gangs is the mission of the Nash County Sheriff’s Office under the direction of Sheriff Keith Stone.

Read the full article on the WRAL website.

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Families grieving fentanyl deaths to rally in support of new laws

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The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina will rally at the N.C. State Capitol Building later this month, pushing for stronger penalties for illegal distribution of the synthetic opioid and more funding for early intervention, Naloxone and processing toxicology reports. They are also asking state lawmakers for opioid overdoses to be investigated as homicides.

As NC Newsline has reported, North Carolina has been hard hit by fentanyl, an epidemic within the larger opioid epidemic. Some 13,671 North Carolinians have been killed by fentanyl in the last nine years, according to data from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner — an average of eight people per day.

Even those numbers likely do not take in the full scope of the problem, medical experts say.

In North Carolina, death certificates don’t have a specific code for fentanyl’s involvement in a drug overdose. There is a code – T40.4 — for “other synthetic narcotic overdose.” The Epidemiology, Surveillance and Informatics unit of the N.C. Division of Public Health’s Injury and Violence Prevention Branch notes that most of these cases are “due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogues,” but can also include prescription fentanyl and other, less potent synthetic narcotics like Tramadol.

An analysis of statistics from the state medical examiner’s office found overdose deaths with the T40.4 code rose from 442 in 2016 (the first year for which the office had such statistics) to 3,163 in 2021 — an increase of 616%.

As of April, according to OCME data, there were 1,116 fentanyl-positive overdose deaths in the state so far this year.

Read the full article on NCNewsline.com.

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Fentanyl deaths impact Rutherford County families

This article appeared in the July 17 print edition of the Rutherford Courier. The text from the article was extracted from a scan of the print article to make it easier to read.

By Scott Carpenter

Bill’s CREEK — Fentanyl is potent opioid drug, considered 50 times more powerful than heroin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were over 107,00 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2022. and 2/3 were fentanyl related.

Fentanyl affects every corner of the United States including Rutherford County. A nonprofit group called Forgotten Victims of Fentanyl is working to raise awareness of fentanyl in order to prevent more people deaths. Maria Deckert is spearheading the effort in Rutherford County. The local organization is aligned with other similar groups across North Carolina.

Forgotten Victims of Fentanyl is hosting meeting on Sunday, August 6, from 2-4 p.m. at Bill’s Creek Community Center, 1978 Club House Road, Lake Lure.  This meeting is for families and friends of those who have died from fentanyl overdoses.  And it is for anyone with an interest in learning more about the fentanyl problem.  Deckert said Monday. “We want to Come together, and share our stories.  We want to help saves by informing the public about the dangers of fentanyl.”

For Deckert who lives in Rutherford County, this is personal.  Her son, Robert Deckert, was 33 years old when he died in Florida just over four years ago.  He had struggled with drug abuse for several years but was going through rehabilitation.

“I don’t want to see others die like he did.  I don’t want other families to go through the grief that we are going through,” Deckert said. 

Since 2013. more than 13,600 in North Carolina have been killed by fentanyl.  Statistics indicate there been 84 fentanyl related deaths in Rutherford County over the past nine years.

“This means there are 84 families that are permanently damaged by fentanyl,” Deckert said.

For the same period 57 fentanyl deaths in Cleveland County and 50 fentanyl deaths in McDowell County.

Eckert says fentanyl has killed not only active drug users but people who have accidentally come into contact with the drug.

“Fentanyl does not discriminate,” she said.  “Fentanyl kills babies, toddlers, middle schoolers and high schoolers, college students young adults.”

In order to better combat the fentanyl problem, Eckert says more people need to be made aware of it.

“We want to prevent more fentanyl deaths,” she said.

For more information about the Forgotten Victims of Fentanyl meeting, call 828-291-7951

You can find the original article on the Rutherford Courier website however it requires a subscription to access it.

Wilmington man pleads guilty in connection to fatal fentanyl overdose

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – A man from Wilmington recently pleaded guilty to drug charges and a count of involuntary manslaughter in connection to a fatal fentanyl overdose in 2022.

Per District Attorney Ben David’s Office, Fred English pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 29, to the following charges:

  • Involuntary manslaughter
  • Possession with intent to sell and deliver schedule I controlled substance
  • Possession with intent to sell and deliver schedule II controlled substance

English was sentenced to 75-90 months in prison on Thursday, July 13.

Read the full article and watch the video on the WECT website.

Teens in rehab; CMS wrestler dead. Parents say fentanyl has breached school.

A boyish light had just seeped back into Laird Ramirez’ eyes.

The end of wrestling season brought more free time. With it, he mixed music, cracked jokes and relaxed. He loved life, and he loved his family. He was 17 and acting like it.

His smile was big, and his heart was beating.

The Hough High School rising junior wore well the unique independence that comes with being a teenager, his mom said.

But on July 1, he needed his parents one last time.

Authorities called Gwyneth Brown and Chris Ramirez to the two-story home in the Stratford Forest neighborhood.

They needed to identify his body — robbed of light and color — at a home in Cornelius, paramedics told them.

The night before he’d come and gone from the home, a friend’s house, a few times. At around 3 a.m., he’d returned for good and was chatting with friends when he abruptly beelined for a bed. He said didn’t feel good, his friends told his parents.

Twelve hours later, friends found him dead.

A fatal dose of fentanyl — from a pill he thought was a Percocet — killed him, his mom says.

Nine days later, police arrested and charged 21-year-old Ehsanullah “Sean” Ayaar with death by distribution, according to the Cornelius Police Department. He’s accused of supplying the drug that killed a juvenile, police said previously. A police statement indicates the death was in the Stratford Forest neighborhood.

Read the full article on the Charlotte Observer website.

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NC man charged for selling a minor drugs that caused fatal overdose, police say

A 21-year-old has been charged with death by distribution after a juvenile died earlier this month of an overdose in Cornelius, according to police.

On July 1, police received a call around 3:15 p.m. about a possible overdose, the Cornelius Police Department said in a news release. When officers arrived they learned a juvenile was dead.

Detectives identified 21-year-old Ehsanullah “Sean” Ayaar as the source of the drugs, police said.

On Monday, Ayaar was arrested and charged with felony death by distribution. He was issued a $100,000 secured bond at the Mecklenburg County jail and was released on Wednesday morning.

Read the full article on Yahoo.com.

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Chuck Todd: China and Mexico ‘are not willing partners’ in addressing fentanyl crisis

The DEA calls fentanyl “the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered” yet the U.S. has struggled over administrations to address the growing crisis.

Chuck Todd discusses the sources of fentanyl coming into the US on Meet the Press

In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas discusses the crisis of fentanyl flowing into America and the Biden administration’s plan to handle an expected surge of migrants at the southern border.

Chuck Todd interviews Alejandro Mayorkas and discusses fentanyl beginning at the 8:53 mark.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) joins Meet the Press to discuss his state’s challenges in fighting addiction and the federal government’s failed responses in previous administrations.

Chuck Todd interviews Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown regarding the fentanyl crisis

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram says the Biden administration’s approach to the fentanyl epidemic is not a war on drugs but “a fight to save lives” and addresses China and Mexico’s roles in the illicit drug trade in an interview with Meet the Press.

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