A mother who lost two teenagers to the lethal narcotic fentanyl is speaking out in an effort to spare other families from experiencing “the worst pain possible” at a time when federal investigators are seizing the drug at historic rates.
Within months, Tyler Gordon,18, and his 16-year-old younger sister Jenna passed away in their Riverside County residence. They died from fentanyl overdose.
According to their mother Tammy Lyon-Gordon, “It really is the invisible killer,” she told Kareen Wynter of KTLA. “They had no idea they were taking fentanyl. To have them die at home. A place they felt safe haunts me every day.”
Tyler purchased what he believed to be Percocet on Snapchat in 2020. But the teen overdosed because the pill included fentanyl.
Investigators told Lyon-Gordon that Jenna accidentally took counterfeit Xanax, which turned out to be pure fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more strong than morphine. Jenna died not nearly a year later.
“This never should have happened,” said the grieving mother. “It still doesn’t seem real to me.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that Mexico is the primary source of fentanyl imports into the United States, with California having one of the highest rates of fatal overdoses using this drug.
Anthony Chrysantis, the DEA’s Deputy Special Agent in Charge, alerts the public to the subtle presence of fentanyl.
“This drug that’s coming in from the Cartels is out there and you need to be careful because if you get your hands on the wrong stuff you can die,” said Chrysantis.
Seizures of fentanyl, in tablet and powder form, are at record highs, according to the DEA. In 2023, federal authorities found over 29,000 pounds of fentanyl, almost double the quantity they had taken in the previous two years.
The Department of Public Health reports that fatal fentanyl overdoses and poisonings increased by 1652% in Los Angeles County, from 109 deaths in 2016 to 1910 deaths in 2022.
Reference: KTLA