The Trade

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.

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.

- 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.

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.

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.

She's had addiction problems with heroin.

Okay.

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.

- What's his name? - 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.

I appreciate your guys' time.

More Americans now die from drug overdoses

than in car crashes.

Since the year 2000, more than 300,000 people

have lost their lives to opioid deaths.

Almost all the heroin now flooding the United States

comes through Mexico.

In Mexico, authorities struggle

to contain the country's warring drug cartels.

Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

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

when it comes to opioid overdose deaths.

This wave of heroin, opiates,

it's drowning the state.

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.

Fentanyl-laced heroin is killing the most people

between the ages of 25 and 34.

It's a synthetic form of the drug so powerful,

it's caused massive ODs.

The white powder substance is manufactured

in China and smuggled into the United States

from the Mexican border.

Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.

A very small amount ingested or absorbed through your skin

can kill you.

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.

All right, thank you.

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.

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

- Oh, fuck... -How long?

Like, 15 minutes, 15 minutes.

-All right. - All right.

Fifteen minutes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I kind of just wanna get a background

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

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."

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."

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.