Las Vegas mom sues Snapchat after daughter’s fentanyl overdose death

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A mother filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the owner of Snapchat, alleging the social media product contributed to her 20-year-old daughter’s fentanyl overdose death, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators reviewed.

Avianna “Avi” Cavanaugh, 20, died in March 2021 from fentanyl poisoning, the lawsuit said. According to police, Cavanaugh died with fentanyl and other drugs in her system.

Drug cartels are manufacturing illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid 50-to-100 times more potent than morphine, and combining it with other street drugs. Dealers are often selling their products on social media platforms, the federal government warns and the lawsuit said.

Diane Howard, the special administrator of Cavanaugh’s estate; and Theresa Keyes, Cavanaugh’s mother, filed their lawsuit in Clark County District Court with attorneys Robert Eglet, Robert Adams, Artmenus Ham, Erica Entsminger and Cassandra Cummings — all of Eglet Adams.

The lawsuit alleges Snapchat was “expressly designed and operated… as a tool to facilitate nefarious and illicit activity,” especially toward teenagers and users between the ages of 15 and 29, documents said.

“Snapchat’s defective design and failure to warn were substantial factors in causing Avi’s death,” the lawsuit alleges.

As part of their investigation, Las Vegas Metro police found a text message from someone named “Chris Gucci,” where Cavanaugh asked for “foil.” Police later identified “Chris Gucci” as Christopher Gonzalez. Police also found messages from a Snapchat-based drug dealer, the lawsuit said. The messages showed Cavanaugh believed she was buying Xanax or Oxycodone, but the pills were 100% fentanyl.

In 2022, a judge sentenced Gonzalez to serve a 2-to-5-year sentence on charges of voluntary manslaughter and sale of a controlled substance. A Clark County grand jury had indicted Gonzalez on charges including second-degree murder.

“Snap’s product features, particularly the disappearing messaging features and marketing of those features, enabled and convinced [Gonzalez] that he could communicate with Avi without the risk of the evidence of his crime being preserved for law enforcement,” the lawsuit said. “Moreover, Snap connected the dealer with Avi.”

Snapchat’s features prevented Cavanaugh’s mother from viewing her messages from the time her daughter began using the platform as a teenager, documents said. Cavanaugh nor Gonzalez knew each other in real life other than their Snapchat connection, the lawsuit said.

Howard, Keyes and their attorneys allege “Snapchat has positioned itself as the social media platform of choice for drug dealers, to the detriment of its young users” and that Snapchat has not done enough to protect children on its platform, documents said.

Regarding Cavanaugh’s death, the lawsuit alleges Snapchat’s design “[emboldens] drug dealers to use Snapchat for their illicit gains” and that the social media company failed to take any “reasonable action” amid the fentanyl crisis.

The lawsuit also claims Snapchat features, like geolocation and stories, allow drug dealers “to broadcast that they have drugs available for sale at a specific location, knowing that these advertisements will disappear after they have completed their drug sales.”

The lawsuit cites the causes of actions of wrongful death, product liability, negligent distribution and marketing, and neglect, among others.

“The fentanyl epidemic has taken the lives of too many people and we have deep empathy for families who have suffered unimaginable losses,” a Snap, Inc. spokesperson, said. “At Snap, we are working diligently to stop drug dealers from abusing our platform, and deploy technologies to proactively identify and shut down dealers, support law enforcement efforts to help bring dealers to justice, and educate our community and the general public about the dangers of fentanyl.”

While Snapchat has security features in place, the lawsuit said Snap, Inc.’s CEO testified to Congress that 1% of its 20 million teenage consumers use the tool.

A hearing date in the civil lawsuit was not scheduled as of Thursday.

In 2020, 209 people in Clark County died from ingesting illicit fentanyl. Out of those 209 deaths, nine were children, the 8 News Now Investigators reported.

Overdose deaths involving the use of fentanyl with methamphetamine or cocaine between 2020 and 2023 in Clark County increased by 97% rising from 73 deaths to 144 deaths, according to the health district.

In January, Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford filed to sue social media giants Meta, TikTok and Snapchat for their addictive nature. His office filed a motion this week to block the automatic encrypted messages function for young people.

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