Mum heartbroken after teenage couple found dead in bedroom
An 18-year-old woman and her 17-year-old boyfriend have died from a fentanyl overdose on the same day her mother wanted to take her to rehab.
Irene Sunderland and Grant Blodgett had reportedly suffered from addiction for many years, before they were found in the Sunderland family’s Texas home.
The teen girl’s mother Mandy Sunderland discovered the pair in her daughter’s room in Woodlands surrounded by drugs on May 5, the Daily Mail reported.
A toxicology report confirmed the couple, who were only weeks away from graduating, died from overdoses.
Mrs Sunderland had suspected that her daughter was abusing drugs, according to a Facebook post by her friend Meg Doyle.
“[Mandy] did everything in her power a seasoned mother of an addict does,” she wrote.
“A counsellor from Betty Ford was in her kitchen prepared to do an intervention when Mandy found them upstairs.”
“Irene and her boyfriend did not mean for this to happen. Her alarm was set for school. She was excited about graduation and going to college. They just went to prom.”
Phone records lead to dealer’s arrest
Text messages from Miss Sunderland’s and Mr Blodgett’s mobiles led to the arrest of their alleged dealer.
Abdulbaaith Abiodun Adewale, 19, has been charged with two counts of manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury.
His bond has been set at $150,000.
According to local Houston TV station KHOU11 Mr Adewale had told the young couple that someone had already died from heroin he had given them.
Authorities said Mr Adewale — who had previously been charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance — knew the drugs ‘could and would likely kill them'.
In Texas, if someone experiences serious injury or death, the person who manufactured or delivered the drug can be charged.
“Let this be a warning to those who sell illicit narcotics,” Montgomery Sheriff Rand Henderson said in a statement.
“Montgomery County Law Enforcement is committed to finding you and holding you accountable, not only for the selling of illicit narcotics but for the deaths that occur.
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