Original subtitles

♪

[operator]

[woman]

[operator]

[woman]

[man]

[woman 2]

[man 2]

[woman 3]

[line ringing]

[operator]

[man 3]

[man sobs]

[siren wailing]

[dial tone beeping]

[Edwards] There was an overdose death.

Ashley Staub's the victim's name.

She was found in her apartment with her kids.

Her dad, uh, calls her in the morning.

Her oldest son picked up the phone,

he said, "Mommy won't wake up."

That's when Grandpa came over.

Here's the bathroom where Ashley was found.

So the kids were all awake in the living room,

watching TV and there was like ripped open cereal.

And, um... they got hungry.

It's a single mom raising three kids.

-Yep. -With an addiction.

Here's an old news story with Ashley,

talks about a prior overdose.

-[siren wails] -[woman] The last memory

Ashley Staub has is shooting up heroin.

It didn't hit me until I got, um, clean this last time

like how serious that really was.

And how easy-- how easy I could have lost my life.

-[woman] When paramedics... -Almost two years ago.

...after she OD'd.

I would be dead. I mean, it's...

it's that simple. I mean...

I wouldn't be here today.

♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Edwards] Ashley's case is my first fatal case.

And it weighs on you.

It's important that I find out

who gave Ashley the heroin that killed her.

So I can bring them in before it can kill someone else.

56, I'm on scene and helping 51.

[alarm chirps]

I'm Mark Edwards with the sheriff's office.

And, again, I'm sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately, it's happening more and more around here.

And I'm gonna tell you a little bit about what we do.

What we look for, in a fatal instance,

um, communication with the source,

the supplier, the dealer.

Then once we have that,

we establish a suspect at that point.

From there, we interview the suspect.

Confessions are... are key.

What are the laws now for suppliers like that?

What do you guys charge him with?

So for corrupting another with drugs,

that's a two to eight year sentence.

That has mandatory time.

There's a lot of grey areas with this.

-Okay. -Um, and maybe you can

kind of tell a little bit of her story.

[man] She's had addiction problems with heroin.

Okay.

[man] Her, um, ex-boyfriend,

who actually is the father of one of the children,

he's a long-time user.

He has been a bad influence.

-[Edwards] What's his name? -[man] Justin Buchanan.

Okay.

I care a lot about this case, myself.

If that evidence is there and I can indict,

then I will hold whoever responsible for that.

Okay.

[Edwards] I appreciate your guys' time.

♪

[man] More Americans now die from drug overdoses

than in car crashes.

[woman] Since the year 2000, more than 300,000 people

have lost their lives to opioid deaths.

[man 2] Almost all the heroin now flooding the United States

comes through Mexico.

[woman 2] In Mexico, authorities struggle

to contain the country's warring drug cartels.

[man speaking Spanish]

[man speaking Spanish over radio]

[Spanish]

[Spanish]

[Spanish]

[man on walkie-talkie]

[laughter]

[Spanish]

[man] Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

♪

[Spanish]

[siren wailing in distance]

[shouting in Spanish]

[Spanish]

[barks]

Ohio is now number one, number one in the country,

when it comes to opioid overdose deaths.

[siren wailing faintly]

[siren wailing]

[man] This wave of heroin, opiates,

it's drowning the state.

[indistinct shouting]

[car alarm blaring]

[man] Twenty kilos of deadly fentanyl

are off our streets after a major drug bust.

But authorities say more is on the way,

and they simply cannot keep up.

[man 2] Fentanyl-laced heroin is killing the most people

between the ages of 25 and 34.

[man 3] It's a synthetic form of the drug so powerful,

it's caused massive ODs.

[woman] The white powder substance is manufactured

in China and smuggled into the United States

from the Mexican border.

[man] Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.

A very small amount ingested or absorbed through your skin

can kill you.

[man] We've had a tremendous spike in overdose deaths.

In Montgomery County, the overdose rate

will surpass last year by the spring.

Know we're making a difference here.

There are people getting clean and sober.

But the addiction is evolving.

We're seeing that the heroin isn't strong enough anymore.

And so people, they're seeking out fentanyl.

-Right. -I've been wondering,

'cause I've been testing a lot of fentanyl lately.

And they're all coming up positive.

All of them are?

I don't know, I've never seen so many.

This is the first time we've had to deal with this problem.

We have clients abusing, selling,

doing all kinds of stuff.

But just remember, when they come in here,

they're beat down.

We gotta-- we gotta carry them for a little while.

-Okay? -Mm-hm.

Thank you. I think you guys are doing a good job.

[woman] All right, thank you.

[Richard] As far back as I know,

people suffered from addiction in my family.

My father was an alcoholic.

I also struggled with alcohol.

And my daughter, Brittany,

started with typical experimentation

with marijuana use,

and then with Vicodin and the Percocets.

And somewhere along the line, she decided to try heroin.

And it's frustrating because we have this center here,

we have doctors across the hall,

we can do anything we want for her,

but we can't make her be sober.

She's currently staying at an extended stay hotel,

and saying she's detoxing.

And it's very scary

because last week I witnessed an overdose there every day.

It's an awful feeling.

Helplessness.

[clears throat]

-[man] Hello? -I got another 20 I'll give you.

-[man] Oh, fuck... -How long?

[man] Like, 15 minutes, 15 minutes.

-All right. -[man] All right.

Fifteen minutes.

[TV playing indistinctly]

[Brittany] My dad is the best dad in the world.

He would do anything for me to get better.

But it's like putting a knife in his back,

'cause he's paying for this hotel,

thinking I'm doing okay and I'm not.

I'm depressed because I use dope,

so I continue to use dope.

If that's not insanity, then I don't know what is.

I just want the simple things in life.

I just want to be a mom.

I want to be there for my kids.

I wanna go to their school events.

I haven't seen them since I got kicked out.

Which was like a month ago.

[phone beeping]

Hello? Okay, I'm coming.

My dad's not gonna let me be around if I'm getting high.

I think I'm gonna reach out to my dad

and tell him I need help.

Because I can't quit on my own.

Addiction is a son of a bitch.

And I need to stop the cycle now.

Because I don't want my kids looking in a casket.

[sniffles]

[Edwards] Getting into law enforcement,

I never had sympathy for the individuals

struggling with addiction.

I thought, hey, they're making a choice.

I didn't understand it.

They're not bad people

just 'cause they make a bad decision.

Hey, Mark.

Here's everything we downloaded from Ashley Staub's phone.

[beeps]

[Edwards] Almost every overdose,

their last conversations

are going to be with the source's supply.

And that's key because our goal is to find the person

that gave them the narcotics.

Hold on. What is this?

-Who is that? -This is a deleted text message.

Here, so go-- start here. Right there.

So the last conversation, which is last night at 1:30 am...

-Yes. -...says,

"Can you bring me some shit?"

That's from her, to who, though?

915-1680.

That number, through Facebook, comes to Justin Buchanan.

That's the father of her children.

[man] I kind of just wanna get a background

of what they're talking about, like on these deleted.

[Edwards] At 1:13,

"I need a rig and I'm not at Speedway parking lot

because cops keep driving by." That was a good text.

"I need a rig."

[man] Go down. Hit that one right here.

"Everything will work out for you, Ashley.

I just hope you reach the decision

to seriously surrender to your addiction."

-[sighs] -That, to me, sounds like

"surrender to your addiction" meaning just give in.

-Yeah. -She got the dope somehow.

I think he was there,

like he was somewhere around her that night.

♪

Okay, let's go!

You guys wanna put some flowers down?

-I want to. -Okay.

-No, I wanna put red. -Your mommy loves red.

I dug a little hole there. See?

So this will all fit in there.

Oh, that one broke.

You can fit it right here, honey.

Honey, put 'em right in there with...

I only had two.

That way, they won't blow away.

[man] It was the most horrifying experience

I've ever had in my life.

That I actually had to try to do CPR

on my own daughter.

You know, you go from

the beginning of the story and you talk about

her coming into the world,

and you being there for the, uh,

the total just joy and happiness and...

just, uh...

the proudest parent in the world.

Uh...

Excuse me.

The most beautiful kid.

To... to...

standing over her in a bathroom.

Dead.

At 26 years old.

You know, there's so many things

that go through your mind as a parent.

You start questioning yourself.

What could I have done differently?

[woman] Ashley would have been the last person

that I would have thought would become an addict.

She attended one of the top all-girls schools.

She started playing tennis.

Was in the top 50 in the state of Ohio.

Went nationally ranked.

But there's a family history of addiction.

Ashley's father had a drug addiction.

He hasn't used for 30 years.

But she developed the disease.

Catch it!

[man] Ashley definitely got the gene from me,

and opened the door for addiction.

But I do believe that Justin

knew her weaknesses,

and he preyed on her.

And I think he should be accountable.

[music plays faintly]

[indistinct radio chatter in Spanish]

[gunshot]

[gunfire]

[Spanish]

[man speaking Spanish]

[gunfire continues]

[men speaking Spanish]

[static]

[static]

[man over walkie]

♪

[Spanish]

[man speaking Spanish over radio]

[indistinct radio chatter]

Just gather up her stuff that looks like

it's anything worth holding onto.

I'm almost scared to touch anything.

[Richard] Friday morning,

I received a phone call...

from the county jail from Brittany.

Which actually brought me some relief.

Because I knew at that point at least she was safe,

wasn't on the street.

-Is this hers? -Mm-hm.

Put 'em in that suitcase.

-In here? -Yeah.

♪

[Richard] For the first time in her life,

she has real consequences.

The charges appear to be pretty serious.

Breaking and entering into an unoccupied structure.

And possession of drug abuse instruments.

I think Brittany's always fell

on a little bit of a softer pillow

as opposed to hitting bottom,

and I think she truly needs to hit a bottom.

Because to this point in time, nothing's worked.

So I've limited her contact to me to one phone call a day.

I chose not to go to the arraignment.

I think this time,

she has to go through this process on her own.

I think she needs to feel the pain.

Hi. Thank you.

[man] Good morning.

We're here for an autopsy of Ashley Staub.

[woman] This is your toxicology findings.

-[Edwards] Okay. -[man] Our results indicate

that, uh, she had recent exposure

to cocaine and fentanyl.

-Oh, wow. -Thank you very much.

Have a good day.

[car alarm chirps]

[man] What we could do is talk to Justin

and we can say, we just kind of wanna get the story,

-we'll bring you back... -Right.

But he's gonna tell us the story

he's been practicing in his head.

I wanna be able to come up to him and say,

"Well, I know you're not being entirely truthful,

-and this is why I know that." -That's why

you do your initial interview. That's what I'm saying--

I'm not ready to talk to him right now.

I'm not talking to him.

[man] I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just telling you--

[Edwards] Jake, I'm not going-- Damn, dude!

-I'm not rushing shit! -Right, I'm not--

You just wanna press him and interrogate him.

No, I don't! I want-- I wanna have more information!

I am not gonna fuck this case up.

-Let me wait. -Okay. That is fine.

[phone rings]

Hello?

Hi, Justin. This is Mark with the sheriff's office.

[Justin] When did this happen?

The, uh... her death?

[Justin] Her father will not talk to me.

So I have-- you know... Was she at home?

Did they find her at her house?

Are we able to meet up and talk about--

I kinda wanna make sure it's face-to-face.

This seems like a very delicate...

-delicate thing, you know? -[Justin] That's fine.

I want my, uh...

I'm gonna have my sister Tara pick me up.

She's the only support that I have right now.

Yeah, that's... that--

That's fine. You wanna come down to the-- my office and talk?

-[Justin] Okay. Okay. -All right?

-[Justin] All right, thank you. -Yes, sir. Bye.

I'm very surprised he's called.

I would have put money against it,

that he wasn't gonna call us. [laughs]

It's okay, bud. I don't know why I'm rubbing your neck,

-'cause that really... -Well, it felt good,

and then that last little bit with your thumb, that hurt.

Sorry, buddy. I got calloused thumbs.

[Edwards laughs]

[men speaking Spanish]

[Spanish]

♪

[bell tolling]

[sobbing]

[sobbing, moaning]

[Mari]

[sobbing]

[Spanish]

[laughter]

♪

[Spanish]

[speaking Spanish]

[man speaking Spanish on walkie-talkie]

[man speaking Spanish]

[Mr. Grey]

[Edwards] Got the cause of death results

for Ashley Staub.

So the cause of death is gonna be the acute intoxication

by the combined effects of cocaine and fentanyl.

[Jake] Our theory is Justin provided it to her,

and right now, it is our only working theory.

-We don't have another theory. -We don't. There's no one--

No one else's name is coming up.

So Tara is going to pick him up and bring down here

around seven.

[Smith] Focus on the fact that you wanna know

where it came from. Take the focus of him getting in trouble

-off-- off of him. -Okay.

All right, see you, thank you.

All right. Yeah, I'll be watching.

Justin, there's two chairs off to the right.

Would you like a coffee?

Yeah, no problem.

Uh, here's your chair, brother.

-[Justin] -[Edwards]

[Justin]

[Tara]

Who found her? I believe her dad.

[sobs]

They were in the house.

-Yeah. -[sobs]

Now, like I said, there are still some details

-that are... that are... -[sobbing]

I'm sorry.

[Edwards] Well, I mean...

Honestly, when...

I don't-- I don't know if they saw her.

I don't have that. That'd be a question for...

-I don't know. -Yes. I think yes.

I think he came to check on her 'cause she wasn't answering.

I'm sorry. I know you're tore up about it.

Everybody is.

The sooner we get it out of the way, the better.

If you don't mind me asking...

-If, you know... -The thing is,

-I don't know if she had... -[Tara] You have to know

how to get a hold of these people.

There should be no allegiance.

Oh, God...

[Justin]

-Shawndale Moore. -Shawndale Moore.

[Edwards] What's he look like?

-[Justin] He's a black guy. -[Edwards] Tall or short?

[Justin] Short black dude.

Okay.

So, really, um, we're kinda getting

to the difficult part of this conversation. Okay?

Did you at any point see her that evening?

No. 'Cause she had been calling me all night.

She told me she had $20 and she wanted, um,

she wanted some stuff. And I told her, I said,

"Well, I don't have anything left."

[Edwards] Was this on the phone or was this--

[Justin] Yeah, this was on the phone.

Okay.

And after that, I didn't talk to her.

[Edwards] Okay.

[Smith] Let me ask you this, Justin.

When we went to her house, next to her she had

packaging for narcotics. Look at me real quick, Justin.

When we test that for DNA, if it came back heroin

and your DNA was on that,

um, you're 100 percent sure

that you didn't give her any heroin.

But if you're like, "Oh, yeah,

I have her a little bit of heroin,

a little bit of crack..."

And she may not have been the only person who passed away.

Uh... what...

Um... I gave... I did...

She... I gave her...

-Um... a little bit of crack. -Just a little bit?

No. No, not heroin. It was crack.

-Okay. -Um...

No.

I didn't... I just thought, you know,

if I give her this, maybe she'll be happy.

I don't know.

And that's, you know, that's the honest to God truth.

[Edwards] Okay. Well, I really appreciate this.

Thank you very much.

Justin, if you wanna go with him real quick.

You see, I know you have to see, he has a guilty conscience.

What-- what I didn't like, I'm gonna be honest.

I'm gonna be honest with you. What I didn't like

is he was lying to us,

and he didn't see her.

-Then he seen her. -He slowly divulged information.

Then he gave her crack. And I'm sure you picked up on that too.

-He slowly divulged information. -Yes. Absolutely.

And this-- this is the mother of his children.

-And she died. -We're not done.

I'm not anywhere close to being done with this investigation.

You know, unfortunately, she just passed.

But again, um, you have my number.

Any concerns, he makes anything...

-I'm just sorry. -Um, just, you know,

let me know.

♪

[Spanish]

[Spanish]

Mm-hm.

Si, si.

♪

[shouting in Spanish]

[speaking Spanish]

[dogs barking]

[man] What's the, uh, the follow-up to Justin?

Jake and I spoke with Justin.

And he did end up dropping a name

of Rondale Moore.

Just got dope from Rondale.

I'll have one of the undercover detectives

set up and surveillance.

Also, Justin did admit to meeting up with Ashley,

and he sold her crack.

In the correspondence between the two,

-is she looking for heroin? -She is.

-She says, "I need a rig." -Okay.

She's not contacted any other sources?

No. Not at all. Not at all.

Yeah, he's her source.

The biggest issue is there is about a six to seven hour

time gap between when she was found dead.

It's close.

Yeah, real close.

[Edwards] Based off of what we know,

we're gonna be asking for an indictment on Justin,

involuntary manslaughter.

But there's still more things that we have to look into

to build this case.

Hey, I'd like to take a look at your, uh, security cameras.

It'll be like the evening of the 24th

into the morning of the 25th.

[man] What time the crime happen?

That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Do you have other camera views that maybe face the street?

-[man] No, not at all. -No.

-If... -I wish I had some more

-information to help you. -That's all right.

♪

This is Mark Edwards

with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Perhaps you might be able to give us some information.

[man on phone]

[Edwards] I appreciate it.

What?

-Hey, Jaylen. -Jaylen.

Come here for a minute.

How you doing, brother?

Nah, nothing. You're a hard man to find.

What's going on?

[Smith] So we have a dead girl who has a family,

who has kids. I mean, you know Ashley--

You know who she was.

Because... because we have information

that Justin had talked to you.

Listen, dude, if Justin's responsible in any way,

we need to know this. Okay?

Because Ashley has kids. Do you understand?

So when she died,

and her kid had to basically see her mom dead...

Let me ask you this.

Did Justin tell you that he gave Ashley heroin?

I really don't know for sure.

Here's the thing. We're just here to find out

where this dope came from,

and hold those responsible for her death.

And you have this information and you're sitting on it.

I just wanna talk to everyone that knew her.

It's very important I talk to you.

I'm gonna give you this.

Feel free to text me if you wish.

Let us know.

I just find that fucking dumbfounding, man.

I mean, your friend just died and you don't wanna talk?

♪

[man] Brittany Confer, 2017 CRB 323,

2017 TRD 796.

-Yeah. -Good morning, Miss Confer.

-Hi, how are you? -Are you-- I'm fine. Thank you.

You are charged with a second degree misdemeanor.

Do you understand the charges and the potential consequences?

-Yeah. -All right.

I'm gonna appoint the public defender

to represent you.

The next appearance in court will be March the 9th.

-Okay. -All right, good luck to you.

[siren wailing]

[Debbie] How was she this morning when you talked to her?

She called me saying she was enjoying the groups.

-She loves the groups. -Yeah.

She really does. She says she gets a lot out of it.

I think she's starting to feel a little bit better

-about herself. -Mm-hm.

Her voice is just different.

She's not asking for stuff when she calls me.

She wants to talk.

Well, maybe that's a good sign and she's changing.

-In prison. -Mm-hm.

You never know.

Hopefully, she'll have to go into some type of sober living

or something of that nature.

Because I'm not gonna allow her to come home this time.

Yeah, but Brittany doesn't have a really good track record

-of staying anywhere. -Mm-hm.

-I mean, she could take off. -[sighs]

That's what's scary. She could take off,

use that one more time, and die.

♪

[Richard] Today was the first time Brittany seemed

to have any type of clarity.

So we have a chance.

Ultimately, our hope is that courts will see

that she continues to need help

and as part of her sentencing,

have her get some type of long-term treatment.

So even though it's not a parent's dream

to have their child incarcerated

or in the county jail, in this case,

when you're dealing with such a severe disease,

until we can get her some type of stability,

it's the best for her.

♪

[man] The hardest thing that I've ever experienced

in my life is losing Ashley.

But with Justin...

it really bothers me

that he's alive and she's dead.

It really bothers me that he would not let her go,

and she was trying so hard to stay clean.

I wanna see him answer for that night.

I wanna start by saying I appreciate you guys

being patient, just 'cause the investigation,

there's a lot of, you know, they take time.

I wanna start out and talk about what we know with the case.

Okay. Um, we know that Ashley's death

was a combination of fentanyl and cocaine.

We know that Justin did say that he met up with Ashley

that night and he provided her with cocaine.

But the biggest issue is there is

about a six to seven hour time gap.

She could have went someplace else,

she could have had someone stop by.

The evidence just isn't there for us to close that door.

And that's why we're not

pursuing involuntary manslaughter charges.

Okay.

[man] On behalf of our office here,

we share in the disappointment.

I can't imagine what you folks have been through.

It's heart-wrenching.

Keep in mind, we have to work through the prosecutor's office

and, you know, I'm not happy with the decision.

But I understand the decision.

There has to be some consequences, I guess,

that's my... my thought.

We weren't able to secure an indictment on Justin

for corrupting or involuntary manslaughter.

That was our ultimate goal.

Um, but we were able to go a step higher.

[Edwards] We've identified another individual

named Rondale Moore.

[woman] I've never heard.

[man] I haven't heard that name.

-I mean... yeah. -Not that that means anything.

So Justin and Ashley got their dope from Rondale.

Oh...

And we were able to find Rondale.

And that's something that we don't typically ever get,

is we're never really to move that step up.

And he is the one that probably

is more responsible for her death that night.

[Smith] It's a good possibility that he would be

the individual that supplied Justin and Ashley.

We know that he does deal in fentanyl.

And Rondale probably comes in contact with a lot more people.

So potentially that is a lot-- a lot of lives saved.

[man] And where is he now?

After doing surveillance on Rondale's house,

we've obtained a search warrant.

We'll be executing that very soon.

-[woman] Okay. -[man] That's good.

I mean, I appreciate what you guys have done,

and just all the time you've devoted.

And hopefully, there's gonna be somebody

that's gonna be responsible and take, you know,

for her death and...

♪

[indistinct]

[man] 17 CRB 248.

We're trying to do them a favor.

And then when things went south,

they didn't want you to call the police

because they were afraid they were gonna go to jail.

[overlapping chatter]

...accept the plea of guilty

to hit skip, leaving the scene.

-[gavel bangs] -[clears throat]

[man] 17 CRB 323 2017. TRD 796.

-Good morning, Judge. -Good morning.

-Good morning, Brittany. -Good morning.

Brittany, you've read this acknowledgement waiver

of your constitutional and statutory rights?

You know what your rights are?

You wanna waive them today and enter a plea of guilty?

-Yes. -All right.

I'm going to impose 90 days in jail.

I'm gonna give you credit for 21.

Brittany, my problem with this is...

you're so harmfully involved with heroin, it worries me.

I just think you're a huge safety risk to yourself.

You know how many people we... we bury here?

It's just killing people left and right.

-[indistinct] -Brittany, look how much

better you look today, after only 21 days.

-Yeah. -I mean, that's amazing.

It looks like you've been on a cruise ship.

-[laughs] I wish. -So with your release,

where would you go and stay?

All right. I'm all about that.

Do what you have to do to not kill yourself.

-Thank you. -All right.

-Okay. -You have any other questions?

-No. -Good luck.

[indistinct]

♪

[Richard] I'm never gonna give up on Brittany.

Unfortunately, with this disease,

people have to suffer

from their natural occurring consequences.

And it has to be severe enough

that she wants recovery for herself.

It's gotta be for herself this time.

-[radio beeps] -[man] We are en route.

-[indistinct radio chatter] -[man] Stay tight to the left.

-Tight to the left. -Tight.

Let's go, let's go!

[Edwards] Lester Rondale Moore, and goes by Dale or Rondale.

He's gonna be the suspected source supply.

Ashley Staub's the victim's name.

[over PA] This is the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

-Go! -We have a search warrant.

Come out with your hands up.

I'm going up.

Come on down!

Some new flowers for you, sweetheart.

[singing in Spanish]

[Mari]

[singing in Spanish]

I'll see you next Sunday. I love you, baby.

♪