A juvenile overdosed during class at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs, and was found to have consumed an illegal drug in the bathroom that morning. She was taken to the hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead due to fatal exposure to fentanyl.
Investigators spoke with two teen witnesses who said the victim had taken Percocet, an opioid pain medication containing oxycodone and acetaminophen.
Alexis Nicole Wilkins was suspected of distributing fentanyl to two teenage girls in the parking lot of the Citadel Mall, one of whom overdosed later in the school day. Wilkins had a criminal history prior to this incident and was convicted of theft in several cases.
Investigators were able to track down the defendant through Facebook messages and found the pills were not made by a pharmaceutical company. The messages that the authorities found included a conversation about the sale of a pill at the Citadel Mall the night before the victim’s death.
The FBI and Colorado Springs Police Department executed a search warrant on the defendant’s home. They found 100 blue pills marked with “M” and “30” at her home and vehicle, as well as more than $7,000 in cash.
Colorado Springs School District 11 is working to bring more widespread awareness of the dangers of fentanyl to hopefully save more lives. Michael Doherty is the District Attorney for Boulder County, and is among a panel of experts who say kids are getting drugs without really knowing what’s in them.
School District 11 launched its “Fake and Fatal” initiative in response to the Mitchell student’s death and the fast-growing fentanyl crisis in the city. The campaign warned that many drugs are being sold on social media and that many other drugs are being laced with fentanyl.