Pictured are Robby Lemons and Stefanie Duck, holding up a picture of her son Timothy “TJ” Cothron Jr., who died in February 2022 from fentanyl poisoning.
Stefanie Duck will always remember her son, Timothy “TJ” Cothron Jr., as hard working, kind and compassionate.
“He never met a stranger. He was always willing to help anyone who asked and brought light to everyone’s world he entered,” she said.
In February of 2022, about eight months after graduating from South Iredell High School, TJ died from fentanyl poisoning. He was 18.
His mother hopes that by sharing his story she can help prevent other young people from accidentally overdosing.
STATESVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — “I’m doing this because my 24-year-old daughter, Sophia, was killed by fentanyl on August 16th. And I didn’t even know how to spell fentanyl,” said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
She’s been a voice for families suffering the loss of a loved one by fentanyl poisoning.
“It’s just a network of damaged families who are getting together and finding their power and their passion to heal one another, but also to stop that not from killing someone else,” Walsh said.
The network includes counties like Mecklenburg, Rowan, Iredell, and Catawba. Pictures of those who lost their lives to the poisoning lined the walls at the Bristol Road community center.
Many of their families are doing their best to keep their memories alive.
“Fentanyl took my husband on November 2023, And it has changed our whole daily routine. He was in my house every single day walking around and now he’s not,” said Stephanie Triplett. She started “Embers for Ashes” in response to the death of her husband.
“In 2022, my son T.J. passed away of fentanyl poisoning. He had 18 nanograms of fentanyl in his body, which is enough to kill nine people. He had taken what he thought was oxycodone, but it was a pill that had fentanyl. And he’s been gone since 2022,” said Stephanie Duck. She started “TJ’s Story Lives On”
Through tears, families discussed their losses — but also laid out an action plan to save other victims from death – putting naloxone in every school.
“We just don’t know where a young person might encounter fentanyl. And so the safest thing is to have an antidote within the school, just like an ied, just like an EpiPen, just like a fire extinguisher. It’s not expensive. So we’re advocating for doses per school, not just with school resource officers, but as an emergency first aid kit,” Walsh said.
Officials seized enough of the drug to kill every person in North Carolina more than two times over.
IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Two people are in jail after the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office seized almost 120 pounds of suspected fentanyl mixed with cocaine during a traffic stop on Sunday.
The two people, one from Mexico and the other from New Mexico were traveling on I-77 from Charlotte to Philadelphia in a tractor-trailer when they were stopped by the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Interstate Criminal Enforcement Team (ICE) for a traffic violation.
During the traffic stop, ICSO K-9 Groot indicated the presence of narcotics in the tractor-trailer. After searching the vehicle, deputies located 120 lbs of suspected fentanyl mixed with cocaine, which has a street value of $3.75 million.
Deputies said that they seized enough of the drug to kill every person in the entire state of North Carolina – two and a half times over.
