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‘One Decision And You’re Dead’: Two Santa Clarita Parents Grieve Preventable Losses From Overdose (Part 1)

Whether it’s one pill or a years-long addiction, synthetic opioid overdose continues taking the lives of sons and daughters here in our very own Santa Clarita Valley.

In the days after 16-year-old Daniel Puerta had been found unconscious in his bed at the onset of the pandemic, police sought out his social media passwords. Hidden in the private messages of Snapchat, they uncovered more information on the actions leading up to his overdose, which happens to be the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.

The Santa Clarita 16-year-old, a charismatic teen with lots of friends, had fallen victim to the loneliness epidemic during the 2020 safer-at-home orders, and bought a blue M30 oxycodone pill through a dealer on Snapchat.

The little blue pill, even broken in half, turned out to be laced with a lethal amount of fentanyl– a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine, and classified as the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.

“Drug abuse – it’s not a right of passage, it’s a right to a coffin,” said Cary Quashen, Chief Executive Officer of ACTION Drug Rehab in Santa Clarita. “All drug abuse starts innocently, and today ends tragically. It’s like playing Russian roulette… with two bullets.”

For Daniel, it only took half a pill.

When Half A Pill Kills

“I found him dead on April 1, in the morning, in our own Santa Clarita home,” said Jaime Puerta, Daniel’s father.  “Unfortunately the statistics are that three out of four children that die due to ‘accidental poisoning’ are found by their parents in the early morning hours in their bedrooms, dead.”

Unlike most cases, Daniel was resuscitated after his father called 9-1-1, and he was transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, before being transferred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Fighting for his life for five days within hospital walls, Daniel was eventually declared brain dead due to overdose.

“There was nothing they could do for him,” his father said as he described making the agonizing decision to take his only son off life-support. “He passed away while I was holding his hand, and his mother was stroking his hair when he took his last breath.”

In the days after Daniel’s death, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department subpoenaed Snapchat for the 16-year-old’s social media account – an inquiry that revealed the source of the fatal blue pill.

“Many of those pills are being traded openly via social media, particularly on Snapchat, the most popular app among U.S. teens,” read a statement from The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a nonprofit public health group. “Snapchat has been linked to the sale of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills that have caused the deaths of teens and young adults in at least 15 states.”

With the extent of the opioid epidemic steadily increasing over the last several decades, fentanyl has become the most popular way to increase the drug supply because it is cheap to make, and can be made to look identical to prescription drugs like oxycodone and Adderall.

“These kids don’t have it like we did back in the day,” Quashen said. “The game has changed. Every single drug is addictive… every single one.”

While one pill can be cut with enough fentanyl to be a fatal overdose, those who survive their first dose are likely to immediately become addicted, just like in the case of Nicholas Anzalone.

A Short-Lived Addiction

“It was Russian roulette,” said Christal Anzalone, Nicholas’ mom. “My son never knew what he was going to get. I revived my son nine times, and he was once left for dead in Bakersfield.”

The once “happy and smiling kid” had lost his fearless spirit when he broke his arm at 18, and developed an addiction to painkillers, which led to experimentation with marijuana and eventually fentanyl.

“Fentanyl changed him so much, he went from a smiling happy kid who hated school to somebody scared to death,” Anzalone said. “He was never afraid of anything. But knowing what he was going to have to go through to kick his addiction, he was scared to death. He was more afraid to live than he was to die.”

His addiction took a turn for the worst in 2021.

“It all took place within such a short amount of time,” Anzalone said. “I saw how rapidly his mental health declined and it was horrifying. I saw the brain damage in my son. His brain was different, and no one would help him. They let him out of rehabilitation days too early, even when I begged them not to.”

Nicholas had only been battling drug abuse for one year before he took his last breath at 19 years old.

“The night that he passed away, I checked on him,” Anzalone said. “I always checked on him at night because I never knew… and to wake up in the morning and find him not moving at all…That was it. I haven’t been able to see him ever since the coroner took him. I just wish I had been able to hold his hand and just say goodbye.”

Hearing about his son’s death, Anzalone’s ex-husband flew to California, and requested that his deceased son be transferred to a different mortuary to be cremated, despite his mother’s wishes. Anzalone’s last moment with her son was frantic and disheveled as she tried to save him as he overdosed. Little did she know that those desperate minutes would be their last goodbye.

“I miss him every day,” Anzalone said. “He was my red-headed ginger that I just can’t put into words. He made our family complete. He just had this thing about him that just made people laugh and be around him. He was the best hugger… We lost the best thing that ever happened to us, and I just wish I could go back.”

Despite her tireless efforts to help her son through the impossible, fentanyl remains a powerful drug that has a strong grip over the youngest generations, and continues to take lives in our very own Santa Clarita Valley.

When asked what parents should tell their kids about the opioid epidemic, Anzalone reminds everyone to hold each other a little tighter, because you never know when or how you can reach someone.

“It really only takes one person to reach them in a way that could save them… I just wish we found his a little sooner,” Anzalone said. “My son was bleeding on the outside and the inside… and what I’ve learned is that your child really does want to talk to you. I always thought that kids are already going through so much, so we should take it easy on them. But what I’ve learned from my last three kids is that they do want structure. They do want to be held accountable. Please, take the time to talk to your kids, because I grieve for mine – my best friend – every day.”

If you or a loved one struggles with some form of addiction, including drugs, alcohol, opioids, etc. the team at Action Drug Rehab in Santa Clarita can help.

“The worst part about where we’re at today is every drug that our children are using today is physically and emotionally addictive,” Quashen said. “So that’s why the (Drug Enforcement Administration) finally had to come out and say ‘We’re in a pandemic now, more people are dying than ever before and we’re expecting mass overdose deaths in the near future.’”

For more information on these findings, overdose, addiction and the ACTION drug rehabilitation center, click here.


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‘One Decision And You’re Dead’: Two Santa Clarita Parents Grieve Preventable Losses From Overdose (Part 1)

10 comments

  1. Yep, the Liberals keep the Border wide open and this and other Mayhem will continue!! Wake up, not Woke up Sheeple!!

  2. It isn’t just a simple answer. Bowling Billy blamed the border, but there are online sales, remember?For some who try drugs, the unhappiness of people hating each other goes deep. A teenager might have trouble relating to others at school even though their family is great.It’s also the addictive nature of drugs. It might be family problems, bullying, or just curiosity. There are many reasons for this. I would never claim to know and certainly wouldn’t blame “the liberals.” It’s too simplistic. I feel terrible for those who have died and their families.

  3. Anne in Wonderland, True, life is not simple, but the vast majority of extremely dangerous Illegal drugs, human trafficking, foreign terrorists, etc. come from Illegal Aliens(of many countries) of the South Border! The Liberals Condone bad/unusual/non-traditional/chaotic behaviors/lifestyles! Stable, traditional Judaeo/Christian parents usually have emotionally/mentally stable children because they don’t Condone bizarre Liberal behaviors/lifestyles! Example: Seattle to LA, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Kenosha, Michigan, NY, Austin, Chicago, New Orleans, etc., all run by Liberals! Truth/Facts/Reality please! Wake up, not Woke up Sheeple! Sorry, the Truth/Facts/Reality is difficult!

  4. This is on her & her alone. She was observed at 120 mph
    Don’t feel sorry for her one bit. However her dog I feel sorry for, animal control should take the dog away for her endangering it.

  5. Alice in Wonderland, Never said I/we are Christians, but, stood up for decent traditional values! If you confuse standing up for True Pride, the truth, rugged individualism, individual responsibility and not Sheeplism, well then I guess that’s what lemmings would call arrogance, which is what true Pride/values is reduced to! Keep voting Liberal & enjoy the degeneration all around!

    • Bill,
      How long have you and the GOP considered sedition a virtue? When has assaulting/killing police officers because an election didn’t go your way acceptable behavior? When did corruption, perjury, dereliction of duty and political malfeasance become your traditional values? “True Pride” your term not mine, is complete horsesh*t, what pride or truth is there in perpetuating lies about election/voter fraud. Rugged individualism and individual responsibility? Do you mean the despicable mindless cretins who NOW all claim they rioted, vandalized and threatened to kill Congressional members because Trump told them to? Umm, curious how that “individualism” is demonstrated after one is arrested and charged right? Lemmings are defined as someone who blindly follows the crowd, maybe into catastrophe. That about sums up what Trump’s supporters and enablers do/did. January 6 is all the TRUTH one needs to realize that.

      One final point, as for your religion all I can add is this: If your religion doesn’t make you a friend to the marginalized, or a champion of the downtrodden, or a healer to the wounded, then you are serving a god of your own design that looks remarkably like your own self serving interests.

  6. So a Republican congressman seeking a presidential pardon while being investigated for sex trafficking among other wrongdoings is what you call a moral individual?

  7. You think all the ills of society are on the shoulders of “the liberals”?
    Watch the inner Republican circle, UNDER OATH explain what went on in the months, weeks, days before Jan.6. They are testifying to unlawful and unconstitutional behaviors on the part of a leader you probably voted for. Not virtuous, not respectable, not honorable…

  8. Where is Jim Beam? I am waiting to read his heartless comment making fun of the dead by now, like he did about a bicyclist killed in an accident recently.

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About Rachel Matta

Born and raised in Santa Clarita, Rachel Matta has always had a love for writing and media. The first time she ever smiled was actually while she was laying next to her mom as she flipped through the pages of a magazine. Upon graduating from high school in 2019, she chose to major in both journalism and political science at College of the Canyons with the intention of concentrating in news reporting. She began her journey at KHTS as a news intern in the summer of 2020 and officially joined the newsroom in the spring of 2021, intending to move forward with compassion and inquisition.