ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Sandy Heaton remembers the day she got the call about her son’s death. Her son's body was found, already decomposing, in an Orange County apartment. A medical examiner ruled his cause of death, fentanyl and methadone intoxication.
“Honestly, it just rocked my world to lose my other child,” Heaton said. “I know that my son is with Jesus, so that's the only thing that really gets me through it all is my faith.”
Fentanyl seems to have surfaced around the same time federal and state drug agents targeted and shut down a large chunk of so called, "pill mills" across the state.
Read: Medical examiner's report on drug deaths
“It's coming from different locations, have some coming from China, some coming from Mexico,” said Lt. Rich Lane, who supervises the Orlando Police department drug unit.
Juan Figueroa Pedro recently pleaded no contest to drug possession when he was caught with what Orlando police thought was heroin, and Lt. Lane told Eyewitness News the users have no idea.
“It's always sold as heroin, not until it comes back later that it's fentanyl,” Lt. Lane said.
9 Investigates reviewed medical examiners reports from across the state, and found Fentanyl related deaths are rising, fast. The Orange-Osceola medical examiner saw 34 cases in 2014. Lab samples are still being tested from 2015, but so far, at 68 deaths are linked to the powerful pain killer. Dr. Joshua Stephany, the Orange-Osceola medical examiner, has seen the increase first hand.
“You add in Fentanyl either by itself or with the heroin, at the potency of 100 times more than morphine, you're much more likely to overdose.”
The death toll isn’t isolated to Central Florida, it’s rising across the state. 9 Investigates spent weeks reviewing medical examiner reports, statewide, where a death was caused by heroin, laced with fentanyl or pure Fentanyl.
A total of 538 deaths in 2014, were reported to the state, compared with 292 the year before, according to data compiled each year from medical examiners, and reported to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Heaton is now on a mission to help others with their grief. She had this message for the dealer who fed her son's addiction, “I forgive him and that I love him,” Heaton said.
Heaton is now connected with a grief counseling group and led her first group in recent weeks. They meet at Union Park Christian Church on 2119 N. Dean Road in Orlando, Florida 32817. They can be reached at: 407-275-0430.
Click here for to learn more about the resources available to stop addiction.
Cox Media Group
