On a mission to prosecute fentanyl dealers, Union County opens its own autopsy center

Read the original article on the Charlotte Observer website.

When autopsy backlogs in North Carolina threatened Union County officersโ€™ ability to prosecute drug overdose cases, they opened their own center to continue their yearslong drug purge amid state delays.

A temporary autopsy center that opened in the bottom of a Monroe hospital Dec. 17 is the ninth regional center in the state. Itโ€™s also one countyโ€™s latest attempt to combat two issues plaguing the state: drug deaths and autopsy delays.

The North Carolina General Assembly since its 2023 session has given Union County $22 million to open the South Piedmont Regional Autopsy Center under oversight from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The county soon hopes find a permanent building to better host eight more counties and get the proper accreditation to help with the toxicology reports backlog, too.

Autopsy and toxicology backlogs have been caused by increasing overdose deaths and too few forensic pathologists, a Charlotte Observer investigation revealed last year. They leave grieving families and investigating law enforcement waiting too long for answers.

For Union County, those delays were made worse when the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner moved Union Countyโ€™s autopsies from Mecklenburg County โ€” less than an hour away โ€” to Wake County โ€” about three hours away โ€” in 2022.

The switch was supposed to help with backlogs, but transportation time coupled with the Raleigh centerโ€™s staffing shortages created more delays, said Tony Underwood, the chief deputy of operations with the Union County Sheriffโ€™s Office.

Each Raleigh pathologist, the Observer previously reported, completes, on average, 557 autopsies each year. Thatโ€™s more than twice the number recommended by a national accrediting group, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley previously told the Observer.

โ€œBottom line, plain and simple, the medical examination system is in crisis,โ€ Kinsley said.

The Raleigh autopsy center told Underwood it does not โ€œroutinely do full autopsies in suspected drug overdose cases,โ€ he said in an interview with the Observer.

Mecklenburgโ€™s center did, Underwood said.

The change became a problem for Union County law enforcement.

The sheriffโ€™s office and Union District Attorney Trey Robison were charging and prosecuting drug dealers who sold deadly substances to people even before a state law paved the way to do that.

A 2019 bill introduced a โ€œdeath by distributionโ€ charge to North Carolina, allowing dealers to be charged with killing someone by selling or giving them the drug that killed them. It is largely regarded as a โ€œhard-to-proveโ€ charge, but Union County is among the top counties pursuing and prosecuting it, according to nonprofit research by the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.

Union County, Underwood said, had been charging dealers with second-degree murder before โ€œdeath by distributionโ€ was introduced.

That meant Union County officers were routinely requesting autopsies and toxicology reports in almost every overdose case.

But in Raleigh, they sometimes needed to have โ€œprobable causeโ€ that a crime was committed to request an autopsy, Underwood said. Toxicology reports, which show what substances were in a personโ€™s system when they died, typically give probable cause.

But state toxicology reports are finished more slowly than autopsy reports, sometimes taking months or years to be completed.

In 2023 in Raleigh, the medical examinerโ€™s office had just one forensic toxicologist to certify all drug casework, the Observer previously reported.

Union Countyโ€™s temporary autopsy center is a step in the right direction, said Barb Walsh, the founder and executive director of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. But North Carolina really needs more toxicologists, she said.

Walsh, whose daughter died after unknowingly drinking from a water bottle that had fentanyl in it, had to wait five months to learn what killed her daughter in 2021.

โ€œAnd I thought that was awful,โ€ she said, โ€œbut I am consistently getting calls from families that are waiting 10 and 12 months.โ€

From 2019 to 2023, according to the state health department, North Carolina experienced a 26% increase in cases. That was โ€œundoubtedly influenced by the 69% increase in suspected drug overdose cases,โ€ spokesperson Hannah Jones wrote in an email.

โ€œAnother regional autopsy center is a welcome addition to the NC Medical Examiner System to help with the many cases that come through,โ€ she wrote.

In 2025, Underwood said, the sheriffโ€™s office is seeking accreditation to expand its toxicology lab โ€” which is currently used to test blood from impaired drivers โ€” to be able to test blood from those who died from an overdose or fentanyl poisoning.

‘Weโ€™re tired of telling parents that their children are dead due to fentanyl use’ | UCSO works to fight fentanyl crisis

Union County is working to get fentanyl test results back sooner.

MONROE, N.C. โ€” WCNC Charlotte is putting a face to the fentanyl crisis. 

Recent trends show it’s killing people who don’t even know they’re taking it. 

A deadly dose is as small as the size of Abraham Lincoln’s cheek on a penny. 

Now, theย Union County Sheriff’s Officeย is working to crack down on the drug, which is greatly impacting families.

โ€œHe just really had a special heart,” Union County resident Linda Hibbets said.

Hibbets, raised her grandson, 18-year-old Brian Terrano. He grew up loving adventures, sports, and anything to do with Gatlinburg. After a trip there, the next morning he was supposed to go to school. 

โ€œI told my husband to help me get him off the bed, and I did CPR, Iโ€™m an RN, and I couldnโ€™t save my grandson and that was really hard,” Hibbets said. “Iโ€™ve saved others, but I couldnโ€™t save him, he was gone.โ€   

It’s a story UCSO Lieutenant James Maye has heard too often.ย 

Continue reading “‘Weโ€™re tired of telling parents that their children are dead due to fentanyl use’ | UCSO works to fight fentanyl crisis”

INSIDE LOOK: Union County crime labโ€™s crucial role in putting criminals behind bars quicker

UNION COUNTY, N.C. โ€” Union County is working to speed up justice with its crime lab and newly accredited FIELDS of evidence, which means faster results while putting criminals behind bars and getting innocent people out.

Channel 9โ€ฒs Hannah Goetz spoke with forensic chemists, crime scene investigators, and law enforcement officers on Thursday about the work they are doing, which is helping to cut back on the state labโ€™s backlog.

The digital forensic lab has equipment used to analyze things, such as text messages, which could lead to an arrest.

โ€œItโ€™s key for us to create a timeline of that victimโ€™s last hours and this room does a great job of providing us that,โ€ said Lt. James Maye.

The work in the digital forensic lab can help in cases of fentanyl poisoning to identify drug dealers.

โ€œThis evidence is used to determine which source provided the narcotics that ended the life of a victim,โ€ Maye said.

The crime labโ€™s most recent accreditation was in the fall of 2023, which allowed officials to process fingerprints and blood alcohol testing on-site.

The blood alcohol analysis, which could be crucial in a DWI arrest, starts there where vials are filled and prepped for testing.

โ€œThe alcohol thatโ€™s in the blood will slowly go into the air above the sample,โ€ said forensic chemist, Dayla Rich.

โ€œSo, you test not the blood, but the air that is coming out of it?โ€ Goetz asked.

โ€œCorrect,โ€ said Rich.

Running those tests in-house can provide results weeks or even months faster. Other local law enforcement agencies can use the lab too.

โ€œSheriff (Eddie) Cathey is encouraging everyone to bring us your phones, your blood, anything we can do to get criminals off the street bring it to us weโ€™ll take care of it,โ€ said Lt. Maye.

In the coming months, theyโ€™re hoping to be accredited in other fields of evidence analysis, including DNA, blood drug toxicology, and seized drugs.

The lab will not conduct autopsies on-site. That will be the responsibility of the regional medical examinerโ€™s office.

The Union County Sheriffโ€™s Office hopes to eventually do postmortem-blood-drug testing for death by distribution cases.

Read the full article and watch the video on the WSOC TV9 website.

โ€˜No person that is safeโ€™: Families continue the fight against fentanyl during victim summit

MONROE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) โ€” The Fentanyl Victims Network met Saturday morning to continue the fight against the deadly drug taking over the nation.

Families who lost loved ones in the fentanyl poisoning shared their stories and pictures in hopes of uplifting each other.

Debbie Dalton was one of them.

โ€œThere is no demographic; there is no person that is safe from this evil that is taking our children,โ€ said Dalton. 

In 2016, she lost her son Hunter to the drug after she said a good friend offered it to him.

โ€œHunter joked about it, like, โ€˜I donโ€™t do this. Iโ€™m 23.โ€™ He laughed about it. But unbeknownst to Hunter and his good friend, it was cut with fentanyl, and it gave my 6โ€™2โ€ณ son a heart attack. He didnโ€™t stand a chance against it. He was so strong that he survived for six days, and I held his hand, but he never regained consciousness,โ€ Dalton said.

In his memory, she started the Hunter Dalton HD Life Foundation. Her mission now is to spare other families from going through the same heartache.

North Carolina is fourth in the nation in fentanyl deaths, but only 10th in population. Between September 2013 and September 2023, over 1600 people died from the drug in Gaston, Mecklenburg, and Union counties.

Continue reading “โ€˜No person that is safeโ€™: Families continue the fight against fentanyl during victim summit”

Union Co. opioid overdose deaths up 166% in 2023, mostly from fentanyl

Law enforcement says many of the 32 deaths in 2023 were first-time users who didnโ€™t know they were taking fentanyl.

ONROE, N.C. (WBTV) – A 166% increase in opioid deaths happened in Union County last year, with fentanyl being the main factor.

The Union County Sheriffโ€™s Office wants families to be aware that many of the victims are not serious drug users, but rather first-time users who may not even know theyโ€™re taking fentanyl.

According to the Union County Sheriffโ€™s Office, 32 people died from opioid overdoses in 2023. Thatโ€™s 166% higher than the previous year. Additionally, overdose calls were up 17% in the county at 170 in total.

Union County Sheriffโ€™s Lt. James Maye said that itโ€™s important for people, especially parents, to be aware of the hidden dangers of fentanyl. First, itโ€™s incredibly potent.

โ€œPowdered fentanyl, youโ€™re talking about an amount less than the size of a penny could end a personโ€™s life,โ€ Maye said.

Those taking fentanyl often arenโ€™t even aware theyโ€™ve done so.

โ€œItโ€™s often not your longtime drug user,โ€ Maye said. โ€œIt may be one of your teenagers, a local student. They may want to try something like Xanax or Adderall, but it could be fentanyl and they donโ€™t even know it.โ€

Continue reading “Union Co. opioid overdose deaths up 166% in 2023, mostly from fentanyl”
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