Fentanyl overdose believed cause of death for three found in Independence home
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Three people were found dead in an Independence, Missouri, home. Detectives told the family the early signs point to a fentanyl overdose.
This comes mere weeks after the deputy chief in that suburb said they had reached a crisis point.
“They took my son; he wasn’t ready to go. I wasn’t ready for him to go,” Don Alvis said of his son who died of a suspected cocaine and fentanyl overdose.
Alvis discovered his son and the other three victims. Now he and his granddaughter are speaking out because they said they feel as though they must.
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“The way it started the bed was this way, and that’s where the girls were laying. Matt was here in front of this couch, and then my son was laying down right across here,” Alvis said.
Alvis is now reliving the moments when he made a very grim and heartbreaking discovery.
“I thought they were sleeping – that’s what it looked like, sleeping,” he said.
But what he didn’t know, on the morning of Feb. 11, is that his son David Alvis and three of his friends had overdosed after doing cocaine in the early morning hours after a night out on the town.
His son and two others were later pronounced dead on the scene. The fourth victim was taken to a local hospital and managed to survive.
“I just kept thinking to myself what I could have done,” Alvis said.
In Jackson County alone, from 2020 to 2022, the Medical Examiner’s Office reports a 270% jump in fentanyl-related deaths.
Although the families in this case have been informed that this is related to that, they still await confirmation from the official autopsy results.
Just about a month ago, FOX4 first told you about the deaths of three men found dead in the backyard of a Northland home.
Toxicology reports in that case align with what police have told these families in this case thus far.
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Jordyn Alvis read a message to those who gathered at her father’s funeral a few weeks ago.
She started by saying no one is immune to death and no one is immune to fentanyl or the drugs that it can be laced with. She finished with the below lines:
“You do not think this will affect you or the people around you until it is you, until it is your friend, your mom, your dad, your siblings or your child. If this can help just one person get sober, I know my dad passing will not have just been for no reason. You are loved so put the drugs down,” Jordyn said.
The family indicated that there was an arrest made in this case. FOX4 inquired about that, and police said it’s part of their ongoing investigation. We also asked a series of other questions and were given that same response.
These families were told 4-6 weeks ago they would have definite answers. Right now were just about 5 weeks into this, so their wait will continue.
